The County Assembly of Kisumu now wants the executive to furnish it with clear strategies on how to improve the revenue collection in the county.

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The Assembly’s request comes as the county government continues to grapple with low revenue collection.

It is yet to reach its potential as the continuous low collection affects funding of various development projects in the region.

The cumulative revenue amounted to Sh4.09 billion in the first half of the financial year 2015/2016 compared to the target in the approved budget of Sh11.4 billion.

During the same period, the local revenue realised was Sh442.8 million accounting for 47.3 per cent of the annual target of Sh935.3 million.

The county’s budget review and outlook paper 2015 that was tabled a week ago by the county budget and appropriation committee Chairman Willis Ogonyo revealed that the local revenue collected in the first half of this financial year fell below the target by Sh592 million despite the automation of revenue collection by the executive and revenues from the devolved units.

“The executive should provide the Assembly with a comprehensive program on how to improve on the locally generated revenue,” said Ogonyo.

Kisumu City Council alone used to collect at least Sh60 million every month yet the revenue for the entire county per month is barely higher than this.

In 2014, a year into the devolved system, Kisumu witnessed a drop by more than 300 per cent in revenue collection despite now collecting funds from other defunct councils such as Town Council of Muhoroni, County Council of Nyando, Ahero Town council and Seme.