City Hall revenue falls Sh637m on Covid-19

City Hall’s own-source revenue for the three months to June fell 50 percent to Sh1.369 billion due to slowed business activities attributed to restrictions enforced to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Provisional data from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) — the revenue collector for City Hall — in its report for the period shows that it raised Sh1.369 billion down from Sh2.006 billion in a similar period last year.

The Sh637 million drop coincided with the start of the State-enforced restrictions on mass gatherings, socials distance, ban on movement into and out of the capital city and the dusk to dawn curfew that hit businesses.

The report tabled before the County Assembly shows that collections in the capital were lowest in April at Sh368.818 million, highlighting the adverse effects of the restrictions on business activities.

Businesses temporary closed down and traffic to the city fell in April on State orders to stay at home for all non-essential services providers hitting the daily parking collections.

Collections picked to Sh412.149 million in May and further to Sh588.843 million last month as businesses slowly resumed after the State started easing restrictions.

“The global pandemic of Covid-19 greatly hampered revenue collection and enhancement initiatives due to business closures and lock-downs across the country,” KRA, appointed by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services to collect all levies in the county said in the report.

The report did not give a breakdown on the collections by various revenues streams, key among them parking, Single Business Permits (SBPs) and rates that collectively contribute to more than half of City Hall’s annual collections.

The drop sets the stage for yet another year of missed revenue collection by the Governor Mike Sonko administration.

City Hall raised Sh10.25 billion in the 2018/19 year from a target of Sh15.5 billion from parking fees, land rates, single business permits, market rates and other revenue streams.

The perennial misses in revenue are blamed on rampant corruption among City Hall official and weak resources that make it hard to pursue defaulters in a bid to grow the own-source collections.

KRA took over the revenue collection functions at City Hall in March after Mr Sonko who was barred from office on graft charges transferred four key sectors to the national government under the Nairobi Metropolitan Services.

The transferred functions are health, transport, public works, utilities and ancillary as well as the planning and development sectors.