Governor Wavinya Ndeti has completed a purge in the most lucrative revenue collection points of Machakos County.
With the recent mass transfers for Machakos Revenue officers, Wavinya's supporters who are newly employed are firmly collecting cess in Mavoko's nearly 40 cess collection points.
An investigation by The Anchor reveals that 10 old guard staff who had served in the cess points have been deployed to other locations to serve in the same capacity.
The purge has left county staff clearly split in the middle- the Old Guard- comprising of pre devolution staff and those hired under Governor Alfred Mutua on the one hand, and new staff recruited under Governor Wavinya- on the other.
In effect, over 160 of the 435 newly recruited staff believed, to be Wavinya's ultra hot loyalists were moved to the cess points that collect tax from Mavoko's massive quarries. The rest, both teenagers and retirees, are scattered across the county.
Hundreds of lorries ferry cut stones, ballast, hardcore,quarry dust, and other stone products to building sites in surrounding parts of Mavoko,including Nairobi.
Most of the new staff are yet to obtain personal numbers to enable them sit squarely within the County Public Service Board.
The investigation found that the staff have been issued with staff badges for ease of identification. Each of the cess points is managed by 2 -4 staff to minimise collusion in revenue collection.
Preliminary indications show that revenue has since improved by nearly 50 percent.
" Each cess point is collecting over Kes 500,000 daily," a source conversant with the revenue collation in Mavoko said, indicating that quarries are bringing in Kes 20m daily- a confirmation that they are the county's cash cow.
A source told The Anchor that revenues from the quarries are the main trigger of the mass transfers and have been abused in the current and past county governments.
This marks a huge jump in revenue as a result of the mass transfers ordered by Finance Minister Muia Kuyu.
