Nairobi News

HashtagHustle

City MCAs fault Sonko for rushing new payment system


A section of Nairobi MCAs have poked holes in the new revenue collection system introduced by City Hall on Monday, saying it was ‘a bit rushed’.

Budget and Appropriations committee chairman Robert Mbatia said the hitches being experienced would have been minimized if a pilot test was done to identify loopholes.

“Although we will eventually overcome the challenges, the system would have been introduced gradually, first by testing several revenue streams that are not very busy to know the challenges that might be encountered,” said Mr Mbatia on Tuesday.

Motorists continue to report hitches while paying parking fees despite assurance from City Hall that the new revenue collection will be flawless.

On Monday, Governor Mike Sonko’s director of communication Elkana Jacob said the glitches may have been caused by an ongoing upgrade of the system and update of security features.

GETS OVERWHELMED

However, in the two days the new application *235# has been in use, motorists have reported challenges especially during the peak time. The system gets overwhelmed by an avalanche of concurrent requests.

Some motorists reported getting no confirmation messages after paying the required Sh200 parking fee, while for others it took more than 40 minutes to get the confirmation message.

For others, due to the lack of publicity on the transfer to the new application, they found themselves still using the old USSD short code.

“It took me little trouble this time to pay for my parking than it was on Monday but the system still does not work as seamlessly as the other one we used to use,” said John Omondi.

Dorcas Kinyanjui said she paid for parking but the confirmation message delayed to come back.

The county government has been distributing flyers to residents informing them of the new code and the process of paying for different services being offered by the county.