Uhuru Orders Government Agencies To Use Single Tax Collection System

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday ordered the creation of a single revenue collection system in the country.

He said the new system will be used across the 47 counties and will be integrated with National Government systems.

President Kenyatta said currently counties are using 11 different revenue collection systems, which are not integrated with those used by the National Government or even those used by other counties.

The president ordered the State entities to form a multi-agency task force that will work on streamlining revenue collection in the counties.

President Kenyatta noted that the presence of 11 revenue collection bodies in the country that were all independent from the one used by the National Government has crippled the county government.

“The bottom line is, this has severely limited the amount of revenue collected by the counties,” said the President.

He spoke at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) where he was updated on the progress of a multi-agency geospatial mapping project of Kenya.

“To eliminate this duplication of efforts and waste of resources, I hereby direct the Commission on Revenue Allocation, the Council of Governors, the National Treasury and the Kenya Revenue Authority to form a Multi-Agency Team whose principal aim shall be to deliver on a single revenue collection system, that is integrated with National Government Systems and to be used across all 47 Counties,” the President ordered.

The task force working on the revenue collection system must take into account the work done by the Multi-Agency Team on Joint National Resource Mapping Project.He said

Surveying and mapping out resources is not only crucial in planning but also in finding the kind of resources the country has and where they are located.

“If revenue collection systems are integrated with the map, it will be easy, for example, to know who has paid land rates,” the President observed.

President Kenyatta said the multi-agency task force has saved billions of shillings of taxpayers money that would have been paid out if foreign or local private companies hired for the work.

“Our initial projections had indicated that the production of a single map sheet would cost us Sh148 million. However, the multi-agency team has produced them for Sh70,000 each,” said the President.

He added, “Initial estimates for the nationwide airborne geophysical survey indicated that the project would cost the country Sh7 billion; but, through pooling of resources from different ministries and agencies, we have cut that cost to Sh2 billion.”

President Kenyatta said the geospatial mapping project will be completed by November 2020 and will provide government agencies with the necessary data to spur enhanced and more efficient delivery of their mandates.

He said the private sector will also derive tremendous benefits through opening up opportunities in infrastructure development, e-commerce, extractive industries and the 24-hour economy.

President Kenyatta said the quick success in the mapping project is as a result of the multiagency approach as it drew representation from a broad spectrum of government agencies and departments..

“The present case is the latest in a long string of successes for multi-agency teams. Leveraging on synergies and competencies of our various agencies and the economies of scale, we have secured encouraging results for the nation,” the Head of State said.

The President said great success has been achieved by multi-agency teams in a number of flagship national projects including LAPSSET, SGR, the Blue Economy, Immigration and Border Security, Counter-Terrorism and Environmental Conservation and Rejuvenation.

The Head of State commended the Kenya Defence Forces for their contribution to the success of the project and urged the disciplined forces to be part of all initiatives aimed at transforming the country.

Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya who is also the Chairman of the Council of Governors, said resource mapping will help county governments enhance revenue collection.

He urged counties to adopt the option of cooperation, collaboration and dialogue in serving the public and working closely with the national government.