Factors influencing collection of parking fee in local authorities in Kenya: a case study of city council of Nairobi

Abstract

There has been inadequate performance and service delivery by the City Council of Nairobi in some areas such as garbage collections, street lighting, water and sewerage system among others mainly due to financial constraints and yet the council collects a lot of revenue from the many services it delivers to the residents. Parking fee charges is one of its major income earners which need to be improved for the enhancement of maximum revenue collection. Referring to the financial income reports between the year July 2006 and July 2008 (page 6), a lot of fluctuations observed indicating high possibility of risks the revenue collected is exposed to. This study aimed at determining factors influencing the collection of parking fee at City Council of Nairobi and intended to recommend strategies the council should employ to enhance maximum collection from this section. Primary data was obtained through questionnaires administered to randomly selected City Council workers in the City Treasurer's Department. Purposive sampling was used to select Car Park Attendants section out of 10 sections in the department and also to select the key informant, head of section. Stratified random sampling was used to select 47 respondents out of 217 workers. The questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data while the interview guide was used to collect qualitative data from the head of section. Secondary data was obtained from City Council of Nairobi reports, documents, publications and research studies related to financial mismanagement within and outside the council. The data collected was analyzed by means of descriptive statistical methods, which was facilitated by use of Statistical Packages of Social Sciences Programme. The analyzed data was presented in form of charts, frequencies, graphs which guided in making recommendations on enhancement of effective revenue collection towards building up the financial base. The study found that inadequate parking supply, limited use of technology for fee collection, high competition from private parking and non-enforcement of all By -laws governing operations has some negative impact on revenue collection.