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The investigation identified several problems, including cash collections made outside official systems, continued use of manual receipts, weak supervision of revenue officers, poor reconciliation procedures and inadequate audit controls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The committee said there is evidence that significant amounts of revenue may not be reaching official county accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While businesses and residents continue to pay county fees and charges, the report suggests that some collections are being diverted before they are recorded in the county’s financial systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report also raises concerns about the county’s heavy reliance on its Integrated Revenue Management System (IRMS), the digital platform used to collect revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A four-day system outage in February 2026 caused daily collections to fall by 74%, exposing what the committee described as a major operational risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This exposes the County to significant operational risk,” the report noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The committee also questioned the county’s contract with telecommunications company Safaricom and technology provider RevTech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the concerns were an uncapped 4% commission on all revenue collected, limited performance guarantees and the absence of penalties for prolonged system failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report described the arrangement as financially unfavourable and lacking sufficient safeguards to protect public funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Independent ICT audits conducted during the inquiry reportedly found untraceable transactions, missing payment records, unreceipted collections and test data within the live revenue system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Auditors also raised concerns about excessive administrator access that could allow revenue records to be altered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, the committee concluded that the current system cannot be fully relied upon as an accurate record of all county revenue transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report further found that the County Revenue Board has effectively been inactive since its members were directed to step aside in December 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investigations into the board members were never concluded and no disciplinary outcomes were communicated, leaving the board unable to perform its statutory functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In its place, a technical committee reportedly took over some responsibilities without clear legal authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This created a governance vacuum at the centre of revenue administration,” the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The findings are expected to increase pressure on the County Treasury, the Finance Department, the County Secretary’s office and legal advisers over alleged failures in oversight and contract management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the challenges, the committee says Kisumu has the potential to significantly increase revenue collection if reforms are implemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its recommendations include the immediate reconstitution of the Revenue Board, a forensic audit of all revenue transactions, restoration of reconciliation controls and investigations into suspected leakages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The committee also wants the county to renegotiate the IRMS contract, strengthen ICT governance, automate all revenue streams and modernise property valuation systems. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kisumu County is collecting only about two-thirds of its own-source revenue target despite having the capacity to generate up to KSh 3.6 billion annually, according to a new report by the County Assembly. The report highlights serious weaknesses in governance, financial oversight and technology management that have contributed to revenue losses and persistent budget shortfalls. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":24517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thefocuspaper.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/FB_IMG_1780848914864.jpg\")
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