Nairobi City County has signed a two-year deal with Safaricom to bolster its revenue collection efforts and in a bid to digitise the county’s services and operations and up citizen engagement in the county.
Under the partnership, Safaricom will develop and support the “My Nairobi App” as part of the “My Nairobi” hub that provides digital services and citizen engagement.
“This My Nairobi Hub will enable us to offer better services to the people of Nairobi. It offers a one-stop shop for Nairobi County residents and visitors to access services with multiple functionalities including making payments. Our partnership with Safaricom will usher in a better experience not only in revenue aspects but real-time communication,” said the Governor of Nairobi County, Sakaja Johnson.
Nairobi County has previously worked with JamboPay and Kenya Revenue Authority and NairobiPay. But while the JamboPay deal went sour and while City Hall took back collection of taxes and levies from the Kenya Revenue Authority in August last year after the new government was put in place, the internal revenue collection dubbed NairobiPay saw an internal revenue hit to a record low of just Sh2.7 billion, 28 percent drop.
The “My Nairobi” hub will equally be available through other digital channels including on the M-PESA Super App, a website and through a USSD shortcode for featurephone users. The hub will also include an engagement channel known as “Bonga na Sakaja” which will enable Nairobi residents to engage with the county and share feedback towards improvement of services.
“Digitisation and technology have great potential to transform county Services providing citizens with increased convenience and local governments with more efficient operations and increased revenue collection. We are delighted to partner with Nairobi City County to develop the ‘My Nairobi App’ and to digitise their services and operations which will see increased service delivery at an affordable cost,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO – Safaricom.
In addition to the “My Nairobi” hub, Safaricom will support the county to design digital channels, integrate county backend services, and to develop a payment gateway and infrastructure to ensure high availability of services.
Safaricom will also provide the county with calling and data solutions including a “closed user group” that provides discounted rates for calls between employees. Other solutions to be provided include revenue collection, parking management solutions, and green credits through Digifarm.
The partnership will also see the county benefit from solutions to provide healthcare to low-income residents and better integration with its other partners such as Kenya Medical Supplies Authority.
Other solutions in the partnerships include smart water systems under the smart city initiative, WiFi hotspots in low-income settlements and around bus stops, an Integrated Traffic and Parking Management Solution and a Disaster Recovery Site for the county.
