Motorists in Nairobi will begin paying parking fees on Friday using a new system developed by the county as the city-state part ways with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
Nairobi City County Director of Parking Tom Tinega says they have finalized the new system, which disengages the one that currently links motorist payments to KRA.
Nairobi County Governor Johnson Sakaja announced on Monday that the devolved unit had severed ties with the taxman regarding levies collection, reverting the function to its officials.
“We are finalising our systems and the public will be notified before the end of the week of the new shortcode that they will be using in paying for their parking fees,” said Mr Tinega.
Currently, motorists can pay parking fees by dialing *647#, which is directly linked to the KRA account.
Mr Tinega stated that one of the reasons they are disengaging with KRA is that the process was fraught with secrecy, and they had no idea how much money was being collected.
“We were never allowed to know how the system was operating or even have a hint of how much had been collected in a day,” he said.
Mr Sakaja stated that the decision to remove KRA from the role was influenced by the fact that the taxman was failing to meet set targets previously met by county officials when they were in charge of that function.
Mr Tinega stated that they are currently conducting tests to ensure that the system will function properly once they migrate to it.
In March 2020, KRA began collecting taxes on behalf of Nairobi County, with officers having full and unlimited access to county revenue.
