Churches and security departments are among institutions that owe Nairobi County more than Ksh2.7 billion in unpaid taxes and other charges.Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja revealed the outstanding debt while appearing before the Senate Investment, Trade and Industrialisation Committee to respond to questions on the county's revenue collection.Sakaja said the county was pursuing various institutions with outstanding payments as it seeks to increase its own-source revenue. “There are churches and security departments that have not paid taxes,” he said.The governor did not immediately provide a breakdown showing how much of the Ksh2.7 billion is owed by churches, security departments or other institutions.Sakaja said Nairobi had introduced measures to make it easier for residents and businesses to pay county charges while reducing revenue leakages.He pointed to the digitisation of county services, saying residents can access and pay for services through the *647# USSD platform and the Nairobi Services website.“Everything is digitised, *647# if you are using your phone and nairobiservices.co.ke, and that is how we have been able to raise revenue by 95 per cent in three years, just by digitising and reducing corruption or theft,” Sakaja said.The governor also cited March 26 as an example of the impact of the system, saying Nairobi collected Ksh256 million in a single day.Kenya has in recent years expanded the use of digital platforms across public services, with government agencies moving processes online in sectors including education, healthcare and agriculture to make services easier to access and reduce paperwork.In education, digital systems are increasingly being used for learner and school services, while the health sector has expanded digital records and platforms for managing healthcare services. Agriculture has also adopted digital tools to connect farmers with government programmes and services.Sakaja said Nairobi had also decentralised some customer service centres to bring county services closer to residents and improve access to payment services.The disclosure comes as the Senate committee scrutinises Nairobi's revenue collection, including the county's efforts to recover outstanding payments and strengthen systems for collecting money owed to the devolved government.
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