Undoing Joho's wrongs? Governor Nassir introduces new changes
Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir.
Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir has made radical changes in revenue collection to curb corruption and deal with garbage that has choked the tourist city for the past 10 years.
Mr Nassir ordered the illegal Manyimbo and VOK dumpsites to be shut down. The two sites had forced some residents to abandon their homes because of the stench.
The dumpsites have also been cleared.
The county has also established a revenue enhancement unit, with inspectorate officers at cess points, markets and parking areas redeployed to carry out traffic and security enhancement duties.
The cess points and the Kongowea market have been a den of corruption, with traders complaining that some county enforcement workers demand bribes from them.
“I am glad to state that on average the streams that have already been touched on, we have seen revenue increase of about 70 percent without necessarily saying we have to tax people further,” Mr Nassir said.
“The growth of revenue from the cess points has never been lower than what it was. This means efficiency is key.”
He said sometimes the county collects Sh500,000 a day and shoots up to Sh1.8 million on others.
“The inspectorate has done a good job in terms of traffic management, flow and normal security enhancement,” he added.
“We will now be redeploying those who were initially in charge of manning and collecting revenue from markets and the parking to traffic management and enhance general security within the markets.”
Revenue collectors will wear reflector jackets and have a tag with a barcode that anyone with a smartphone can scan to confirm whether they are genuine workers or not. For years, business people have fallen victim to unscrupulous inspectorate officials.
Mr Nassir said beginning next week, the Kongowea market will start operating 24 hours a day.
“We are enhancing the CCTVs and there is a gazetted police station, so we are writing to the department of police to ensure officers are deployed as we increase more inspectorate officers to man traffic and general security,” he added.
The county will also audit the workforce, and this will include placement, promotions and possibly a reshuffle.
“There are a lot of staff who are qualified to do other jobs but they are currently placed in other departments,” he said.
“I have written to the Public Service Commission, who have the manpower and capacity without necessarily denting the county’s resources, to do a public human resource audit.”
He assured stakeholders in the construction sector, including quantity surveyors and architects whom he met last week, that all building permits will be approved within the stipulated time based on the law.
But the governor said the stakeholders urged his administration to conduct a sensitisation drive in order to reach out to more sector players.
He said approvals will be conducted online, with minimal human involvement.
Mr Nassir said he wants Mombasa to become the cleanest city in Kenya.
“The public will soon be informed where and what time to dump their garbage. There will be punitive measures for those who will be throwing garbage in the middle of the roads,” he added.
