Strategies adopted by the county government of Mombasa in raising revenue

Abstract

If the County governments were to be able to enhance their revenue collection, a lot of revenue would be generated for undertaking development projects. County governments need to redouble their efforts to raise sovereign, sustainable and predictable resources. Having this information in mind, this study attempted to fill the knowledge gap through answering the following research questions; what are the strategies adopted by the Mombasa County government to raise revenue? How effective are the revenue collection strategies of Mombasa County in raising more revenue? This study employed a case study method. A case study is a detailed investigation of a single individual or group. The study employed a face to face interview as a primary data collection method. The researcher used the interview guide to aid in obtaining information from the respective respondents who were the departmental heads that were well conversant with the County Operations. The respondents included the Executive Committee Members and the Chief Officers who are holders of Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) from each of the 11 cabinets in Mombasa County. This constituted a total of 22 respondents. The data was analyzed using content analysis. Content analysis enabled the researcher to sift through large volumes of data with relative ease in a systematic fashion. This study therefore concluded that the County of Mombasa had adopted differentiation strategies in its revenue collection role. Among them included the remission of cash to the nearest bank and not to the cash offices. The county had also improved tax rates, widen the tax base, devolution of tax base to county government departments, improved controls on management of cash. Among other new developments included decentralized ICT based tax collection systems and offices in the sub- counties. The study recommends that the County Government of Mombasa needs to automate its revenue collection. This can be done through partnering with the regional banks whereby the tax payers will be given option of paying county fees through mobile money or branded credit cards via new revenue collection system. The study also recommends the development of revenue management capacity by training qualified personnel, trained staff in efficient budgetary and financial management systems, established proper revenue management mechanisms and implemented fiscal policy measures. According to the study findings, this negative attitude was related to the poor quality of services provided by the County. There was, therefore, need for the County to provide quality services to the people. This would enable taxpayers to relate the taxes they pay to the services they receive. It would also motivate taxpayers to pay taxes where there is tangible evidence of tax usage.