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Protests hit parking and market collections in Nairobi County
Armed goons along Moi Avenue in Nairobi on June 17, 2025 during protests following the death of Kenyan blogger Albert Ojwang, who died in police custody.Â
Collections from fire inspection fees, market rates and parking in Nairobi dropped the highest in the year ended June 2025 as the capital city reeled from violent protests that kicked off mid last year.
Disclosures by the county government show that fees from fire inspection fell by 90 percent to Sh5.3 million, followed by an 11.6 percent drop to Sh189.37 million for market rates. Parking fees dropped four percent to Sh1.89 billion in the period.
Traders at the open markets of the capital city and motorists were some of the hardest hit when violent protests erupted in the capital city in June last year, depressing activity amid increased safety concerns.
But earnings from business permits, approval of new buildings, house rent and liquor joints mitigated the impact of lower parking, markets and fire inspections collections, helping the county’s own source revenue to marginally rise to Sh13.26 billion in the year to June 2025 from Sh12.8 billion a year ago.
Earnings from house rent and stalls rose highest at 51.2 percent to Sh761.82 million in the review period followed by fees from approval of buildings and business permits which jumped by 17.2 percent and 7.4 percent respectively to Sh2.57 billion and Sh1.44 billion.
Kenyans led by the youth took to the streets in June last year over the Finance Bill, 2024 leading to a spate of violent clashes with the police as they protested the proposed higher taxation measures. Nairobi was the epicentre of the riots that have since cooled down.
Most of the traders at the open markets and motorists in Nairobi pay daily fees, underscoring why the two streams took a hit when riots started in June last year. The clashes later spread countrywide, paralysing businesses in major urban centres.
Disruptions from the riots worsened an already dire situation for the county government given its struggles in growing own source revenues since inception of devolution in 2013.
Nairobi, just like the other 46 counties, continues to grapple with missed targets in own source revenue, forcing it to lean on the National Treasury for cash.
The missed targets have been mainly blamed on corrupt county revenue officials and the use of manual collection systems, where millions of shillings are lost each day. There have also been concerns that counties set ambitious targets that are not based on actual studies.
Delayed disbursements of billions of shillings from the Exchequer have on several occasions paralysed operations at the counties.
For example, scores of employees in several regions have not been paid for months due to delays in getting equitable share of revenue from the National Treasury in the current financial year.
