Back in the day, Nairobi county was on a path to digitize its revenue collection processes.
To this end, it sought the services of JamboPay. JamboPay is owned by Webtribe Limited. The arrangement was based on a common goal shift toward a digitized system for the county, and by extension, in Kenya.
Jambopay came in play in 2014, and its contract said it would serve the city for five years.
It helped streamline revenue collections from avenues such as car parking, among 135 others. Car parking was, and is particularly lucrative as it constituted the lion’s share of revenues.
In early 2019, Jambopay’s contract came to an end. Plans to extend it were not amicable because the County had, at that time, developed an in-house solution.
Jambopay’s exit was therefore expected. The in-house replacement was a platform that was criticized as less robust compared to Jambopay.
It could be accessed via a USSD code (*235#). Several complaints were raised about its reliability, perhaps due to Jambopay’s alleged reluctance to hand over critical components to make it run seamlessly.
It would appear the issues related to the new system were not ironed out.
The platform, which was also backed by the county chief Mike Sonko, has since been replaced too for another system.
The new solution can be accessed by dialing *647#. The system is known as the Nairobi County Revenue System (NRS).
Nairobi residents can use the USSD code to access many services, including parking, land rates, business permits, and market bill management.
The system will also be equipped with features such as mobile money and card processing, bank transfers – all through an in-built payment platform.
The development has also been linked to the Nairobi County revenue collection that has since been handed over to the government via KRA following a transfer deal made in early 2020.
Read More: Nairobi Revenue Collection Platform JamboPay Axed for a Buggy, In-house Replacement
