A leading gubernatorial aspirant from Nyamira now wants the county leadership to regulate the number of revenue collection department employees, arguing that most of them were a ‘wage bill’ to the taxpayers.
Speaking at Nyaronge village on Monday, Mr Charles Mochana, a close competitor of incumbent John Nyagarama said most of the revenue collectors stationed in different towns and trading centers were performing similar roles that could be done with a few.
He threatened to lead peaceful demonstrations to compel the county government to drastically reduce their number and vowed to push for automation of revenue collection.
“Our county has never learnt from other good performing counties. It’s absurd to see several revenue collection workers spread everywhere in a single station, performing a task that should be done by one or two people. The county government should consider trimming the number to reduce the wage bill,” he said.
He also said the large number was the reason behind why the county was persistently collecting little revenue, arguing that they were using the opportunity to defraud the county.
“If the number isn’t reduced, then let the leadership be aware that we will hold demos to push for the same. They have also slowed automation of revenue collection and that has given these workers opportunity to defraud the county some of the taxes collected. This is the time for an action,” he said.
Mr Mochama urged the county leadership to start by trimming the workers in Nyansiongo, Keroka, Kebirigo and Chepilat townships.