Revenue Collection Systems and Revenue Collection Levels in Lands, Housing and Physical Planning Department at Kiambu County

Abstract

The situation in Kenya in regard to revenue maximization by local governments has also been wanting. In was in order to hence determine the relationship between revenue collection system and revenue collection levels in Lands, Housing and Physical Planning Department (LHPPD) at Kiambu County. More specifically, the study set to: establish revenue collection systems used in LHPPD at Kiambu County; establish revenue collection levels from the revenue collection systems used in LHPPD at Kiambu County; compare revenue collection levels between manual and automated revenue collection systems used in LHPPD; and to determine the challenges facing revenue collection systems in LHPPD at Kiambu County. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. The target population of this study were finance and revenue officers from 12 Sub-County Offices in Kiambu County. Stratified random sampling technique was used and a sample size of 60 employees were selected. Primary data was collected by means of a questionnaire. The descriptive statistics and content analysis were employed in analyzing the data. The findings revealed that the use of automated revenue collection systems thus, faced a number of implementation challenges. LHPPD benefited significantly from application of automated revenue collection systems in terms of; increase cash receipts; efficient time utilization; expanding its revenue base; control of the collection process; increasing collection efficiency respectively. The automated revenue collection system was the most beneficial in enhancing revenue collection at the LHPPD. The change management was a major hinderance that faced the adoption of automated revenue collection system in LHPPD. There was steady increase in revenue collection upon introducing automated revenue collection systems. The study recommends that the management of LHPPD should continuously monitor the use of automated revenue collection systems with a view to minimize downtime, hence increased end user satisfaction. The management of LHPPD should continuously allocate adequate financial resources to take care of various implementation challenges impending the use of automated revenue collection systems. The management of LHPPD should heavily invest in change management to complete buy-in from the staff and end users. The management of LHPPD in Kiambu County should continuously upgrade its automated revenue collection systems.