Former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero has reacted to the all-time low revenue collection posted by his successor, Governor Mike Sonko’s administration in the last financial year.
City Hall netted a paltry Sh8.3 billion, missing its annual target by more than Sh9.2 billion and posting the worst revenue ever collection since the days of the defunct City Council.
Kidero, the pioneer city governor who ran the county from 2013 before losing to Sonko in 2017, said the meagre collection by his successor proves he was hands on in managing the capital.
“History is now proving that I was very effective in managing and nurturing the productivity of the workers and projects,” he told the Star.
In what appeared to be mocking his successor and celebrating tribulations at City Hall, the ex-county boss said time has proved that running the city – the country’s capital – was not a walk in the park.
During Kidero’s tenure, Sonko, who served as the county senator, constantly castigated the former governor for running down the county and allegedly perpetuating corruption.
At one time, Sonko got physical with Kidero in Parliament during his (Kidero’s) grilling by a Senate oversight committee over audit queries.
“Everybody can now see that we were working. It is easier to talk from outside but now everybody is seeing it. I was effective. The kind of revenue being posted now is lower than even what the Council used to collect,” Kidero said.
According to reports by the Controller of Budget on the City’s own source revenue performance, the county has never met its target since the advent of devolution in 2013.
However, the collections have never dipped below 50 per cent. On average, the county has been raising between 70 and 85 per cent of its target.
But during the financial year ending June 30, Sonko’s administration missed the target by 52.5 per cent, putting a dent on the flamboyant governor’s record at City Hall.
The shortfall was partly due to Covid 19 pandemic that hit businesses and related activities. The contagion hit the country in March with Nairobi as the epicenter.
The all-time low revenue collection also happened during the year that the county ended its relationship with the Web-Tribe, a tech firm that has been collecting revenues for the city county since 2014.
The City’s core functions were also taken over by the national government and the revenue collections outsourced to Kenya Revenue Authority in the dying months of the financial year.
During its first month – in March – as the county’s revenue collector, KRA collected Sh495.5 million. It raised Sh368.8 million in April and Sh412.1 million the following month.
In June, it netted Sh588.8 million for City Hall.
In 2018-19 financial year, Sonko’s administration raised Sh10.2 billion against a target of Sh17.2 billion.
During Kidero’s last year in office, 2017-18, city collected Sh10.1 billion against a target of Sh17.2 billion. Interruptions caused by prolonged electioneering period was blamed for the under-performance.
In 2015-16, Kidero’s administration posted Sh11.7 billion, Sh3.6 billion short of the annual target.
The year before, City Hall collected Sh11.6 billion. This was an improvement compared to Sh9.3 billion raised in 2013-14, Kidero’s first year at the helm of the county government.
