WOTE MUNICIPALITY EYES RECORD-BREAKING REVENUE, TAPS LESSONS FROM THIKA’S BILLION-SHILLING MODEL

Wote Municipality is setting its sights higher this financial Year, determined to go past revenue records and write a new chapter of growth.

The municipality has rolled out bold strategies, including peer-to-peer learning from Kenya’s top-performing municipalities, tightening revenue stream tracking, and recruiting more street parking attendants to boost collections including enforcement team.

In the 2022/23 financial year, Wote set a revenue target of Sh100 million but managed only Sh83 million. The following year, 2023/24, the municipality not only met its Sh120 million target but exceeded it, pulling in Sh123 million.

In 2024/25, the bar was raised to Sh130 million, and once again the municipality outdid itself, collecting Sh141 million.

For the current financial year, Wote has set its sights on Sh150 million. According to the Municipality Manager, Evelyn Mutua, the team is not just aiming to hit the target,they plan to surpass it.

In this spirit, a team of revenue, enforcement, sanitation and environment officers from Wote visited Thika Municipality for a peer-to-peer learning program on revenue collection and modern waste management.

Thika Municipal Manager, Gathii Kanyi, revealed that his municipality raked in Sh1.3 billion last year and is now chasing an even more ambitious Sh1.8 billion this year.

The Wote team was introduced to the Fukuoka Method of solid waste management, a semi-aerobic landfill technology first piloted in Africa by Kiambu County in 2016.

The Fukuoka system uses fermentation heat and natural thermal convection to introduce air into landfills, accelerating aerobic decomposition and drastically cutting harmful methane emissions.

Wote Municipality is also eyeing the establishment of a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) to tackle waste segregation, recycling, and resource recovery.

According to Mutua, the project is in line with Governor Mutula Kilonzo’s vision of sustainable waste management, a critical step as the municipality’s population is projected to swell from the current 161,996 to 186,900 by 2030.