Spare Nairobi motorists parking payment chaos – Business Daily
The Nairobi City county government has moved to clarify earlier reports that it had stopped the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) from collecting parking fees on its behalf.
The reports attributed to a senior county official indicated that a new system was to be rolled out last Friday, enabling direct transfer of money paid by motorists for parking transferred to City Hall’s accounts.
A City Hall statement later sought to clarify that it will give the taxman more time as it puts final touches to the new system.
This will no doubt come as a relief to motorists who might have been anxious about the possibility of a re-occurrence of the system hitches that have in the past led to parking chaos in the city.
Rushed system changeovers in 2019 and 2021 were fraught with technical hitches that not only inconvenienced motorists but also left City Hall with revenue losses.
Complaints by motorists included unconfirmed messages for payments made via the USSD code.
The new administration under Governor Johnson Sakaja should learn from the mistakes of its predecessors and spare city motorists parking chaos, even as it takes over functions from the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS).
The rot goes deep, starting with the scandalous procurement that has made parking a cash cow for tenderpreneurs and the subject of costly litigation for the county government.
If Governor Sakaja doesn’t get rid of the corruption cartels at City Hall linked with revenue leakages, changing the parking fees collection system alone won’t count for anything.
