Ministry goes cashless in Ardhi House graft war
The State Department for Lands and Physical Planning has commenced a nationwide initiative to roll out the Cashless Revenue Collection programme, a significant step towards eradicating cash transactions within lands offices, ultimately reducing embezzlement.
Speaking yesterday during the flagging off of the programme, Lands Cabinet Secretary Zachariah Njeru said the Ardhipay system is not only going to make work efficient but also easier and faster.
“We are doing this because we want to improve service delivery to our Citizens. The State Department for Lands and Physical Planning has really worked to see that Kenyans are served fast and efficiently,” said CS Njeru.
In his remarks, Principal Secretary for Lands and Physical Planning Nixon Korir said the programme will ensure no cash is involved in land transactions.
“We want to go cashless in all our registries Nationwide in 14 days starting today. For the last three weeks we have rolled out cashless at Ardhi House and it is working well,” said PS Korir. PS Korir added the State Department has developed Ardhipay system linked to the E-citizen which shall help in the implementation of the policy.
He noted that the policy mandates the use of digital payment methods (MPESA or banks) for all services, fostering accountability, precision, and timely reporting in revenue collection. Implementation in the 18 offices has demonstrated remarkable improvements in revenue collection.
The 18 stations where the Cashless policy is already in effect include Wundanyi, Kiambu, Muranga, Ruiru, Thika, Ngong, Kajiado, Eldoret, Mombasa, Kisumu, Trans Nzoia, Machakos, Gatundu, Naivasha, Survey of Kenya, Ardhi House, Yatta, and Kisamis.
To expedite this nationwide transition, PS Korir noted that the State Department will embark on an extensive 14 days exercise to implement the policy in the remaining 76 Land offices.
