Go for other means to raise cash apart from taxes, counties urged

The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya has asked counties to seek other revenue streams and stop imposing taxes.

The accountants have also proposed that devolved units carry out a comprehensive study that will analyse and review current income sources with the aim of improving their performance.

“The counties need to look at new and effective ways of generating revenue for their operations and county development,” Icpak Chairman Benson Okundi told a press conference on the sidelines of the Institute’s 31st annual seminar at the Whitesands Beach Resort, Mombasa.

Counties have been introducing taxes and levies contrary to the Constitution, eliciting criticism from a cross-section of Kenyans.

The devolved units along the Northern Corridor have been particularly notorious for introducing charges on trucks carrying goods, a move that has been termed as a new non-tariff barrier resulting in high cost of transporting goods.

Mr Okundi said with the Constitution putting a cap on the extent to which county governments can go in imposing additional taxes, the devolved units will continue to suffer financial shortfalls with the ever-increasing needs of the population unless they diversify their revenue streams.

He said rather than carrying out individual projects, counties within the same regions should collaborate and undertake joint infrastructural developments.

“Different counties are undertaking and laying out massive infrastructure projects. Counties stand to gain if they continually collaborate with like-minded ones so as to undertake and harness development projects of mutual interest,” he said.

On corruption, Icpak proposed that the national government should amend the Public Procurement and Disposal Act that abets official sleaze.

“The Act and other related laws should be amended so as to address a plethora of flaws that make it easy for public officials to be involved in corrupt practices and get away with it,” said the chairman.

NOT TO BE EFFECTIVE

According to Mr Okundi, the fight against corruption will not be effective if positions of officers who quit the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission are not filled.

“The positions of chairman and commissioners are vacant and this portends a legal challenge in the fight against corruption. Concerned authorities should move with speed and fill these positions competitively,” he said.

The institute expressed concern over lack of support for local manufacturers whose products compete unfavourably with cheap imports.

“Import duty should be reviewed to discourage imports and spur growth of domestic industries, particularly at the county level. This will enhance county revenue that is currently dwindling,” Icpak said in a statement.

Addressing delegates when she officially opened the seminar, the chief executive of the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority, Ms Kellen Kariuki, asked accountants to be on the forefront in fighting graft.

“We have established institutions and going forward, the challenge is to find the right persons to re-orient institutional energies in combating graft. Accountants have much more room to improve,” she said.