Tharaka-Nithi government has put in place stringent measures to curb the rampant theft of local revenue in a bid to hit the Sh400 million target this financial year.
Speaking at his official residence in Kajuki, Igambang’ombe ward, on Tuesday, Governor Muthomi Njuki said at least Sh500,000 is stolen weekly by officers manning cess points — translating to Sh24 million annually.
He said between May 22 and June 4 this year, he conducted a Rapid Result Initiative drive by deploying senior government officers from different departments to the cess points to verify day-to-day operations and they were able to collect Sh500,000 more weekly, meaning that a lot of money is pocketed by revenue officers.
Mr Njuki said while the county has the potential of collecting Sh759 million according to the Commission on Revenue Allocation, the highest local revenue raised since the advent of devolution is Sh286 million in the 2022/2023 fiscal year.
The governor said to curb theft, he has installed 24-hour closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in all cess points and selected open-air markets to monitor the activities.
Images from the CCTV cameras are monitored around-the-clock by six officers working in shifts to ensure nothing fishy goes on undetected.
Mr Njuki said the Sh286 million raised last year excludes collections from bars, which number over 1,000, because there were issues that have since been resolved.
He, however, said the revenue has been rising since 2017 when he took over.
Mr Njuki underscored the need for the creation of a vibrant workforce around revenue to deliver the desired outcomes for the county government.
He said it is critical for all departments generating revenue to work together to achieve the collection targets.
“When Revenue and Veterinary departments resolved to complement each other, it was possible to collect Sh683,900 in the fourth quarter of last financial year through meat inspection compared to Sh534,600 in the previous year,” he said.
In 2017/2018, the county collected Sh79 million, Sh127 million in 2018/2019 and Sh272 million in 2019/2020.
The governor warned that revenue officers found stealing public money will be sacked and legal action taken against them.
He added that the revenue officers manning cess points will take full responsibility in case the CCTV cameras are vandalised or stolen since the sites are manned 24 hours.
Some of the revenue streams which the devolved government targets include distributors, outdoor advertisements, building approvals, borehole drilling services, hostel charging and fees for tender forms and quantity survey services for public works.
