Mandera unveils mobilisation campaign to boost its own source revenue

Mandera County has embarked on a two-week revenue mobilisation campaign to boost its annual Own Source Revenue (OSR) targets.

The county was ranked among the lowest in the County Governments Budget Implementation Review Report for the financial year 2023/24, released last week by the Controller of Budget.

According to the county government, the campaign targets businesses, markets, water vendors, and the transport sector within Mandera Municipality.

Ibrahim Nurrow Issack, the Chief Officer for Revenue Services, unveiled a team from the department whose role, he said, was to mobilise resources to help the county achieve its revenue targets.

The Chief Officer emphasised teamwork and high integrity during their engagement with the public.

“Interactions with the public must reflect the highest levels of integrity as we seek to improve revenue collection and compliance across the municipality,” he said.

Ibrahim added that the team dubbed the 'Rapid Revenue Transformation', would be divided into seven groups targeting zoned revenue streams within the municipality.

Speaking in Mandera Municipality, he stated that the team was expected to provide valuable data and achievable revenue stream targets after the two-week exercise.

In the FY 2023/24 report by the Controller of Budget, the county generated a total of Sh168.75 million from its own revenue sources. This was a 37.1 per cent increase compared to the Sh122.53 million realised in FY 2022/23.

Despite being ranked among the lowest compared to Wajir and Garissa in North Eastern, which were ranked among the top ten counties that exceeded their annual OSR targets, Mandera's increase in OSR was attributed to improved collection due to enforcement, automation, and relative stability in the county's security situation.

The report further indicates that the county's highest revenue stream came from land rates, generating Sh42.53 million, which contributed 25 per cent of the total OSR during the reporting period.

Apart from land rates, the county also generated revenue from the health hospital fund, and single business permits, among other sources.