Uhuru orders formation of single tax collection system

President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered the formation of a multiagency team that will come up with an integrated revenue collection system to be used both at the national and county governments.

The multi-agency team will draw its membership from the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA), the Council of Governors (CoG), the National Treasury and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

“To eliminate this duplication of efforts and waste of resources, I direct the CRA, CoG, National Treasury and KRA to come together in a multiagency team whose principal aim shall be to deliver on a single revenue collection system that is integrated with the national government system and that can be used across all 47 counties,” he said.

Currently, counties and the national government utilise 11 different revenue systems, which is blamed for the low level of collections.

He issued the directive yesterday when he received the status update on the Joint National and Resource Mapping project that was launched last May.

The project by a multiagency team seeks to develop and facilitate the provision of secure up-to-date geospatial data at a minimum cost.

The task force drawing membership from Ministries of ICT, Lands, Petroleum and Mining, Defense, Interior and Coordination of National Government has since updated 75 topographical maps. It has also created new county maps for Mombasa, Nairobi, Kiambu, Machakos, Samburu and Murang’a.

The project — expected to be completed in 2020 — has come up with a model County Revenue System from the digital data generated.

Data generated from the project is expected to help in planning and monitoring of urban development through zoning.

It is also expected to map out natural resources to spur socio-economic growth.

Kenya currently refers to geographical data sets developed during the pre-independence period. The maps are outdated and unreliable for planning by various government sectors.