The supremacy battle for Nairobi between Governor Mike Sonko and National Metropolitan Services (NMS) Director General Mohamed Badi shifted to revenue collection as the month of August set in.
NMS announced a new platform for payment of county services which ultimately scrapped the previous code used by the county government.
A spot check by Kenyans.co.ke at City Hall on August 10, revealed that payments to the county were still ongoing as usual with the cashiers serving residents who had gone to settle payments ranging from land rates, licenses and permits and general bills.
"It is business as usual, we are serving residents as they come and go," a customer service representative stated assuring that enforcement officers would respect the receipts issued at City Hall.
There was a regular albeit low flow of people into the premises as they adhered to the social distancing rules with handwashing at the entrance, workers wearing masks, and those waiting in line spaced accordingly.
"People are using the online platforms to pay, so that has also reduced crowding at the cash office," the representative confided.
The USSD Code *235# which has been in use since June 2019 is still active and the online county payment platform still accessible with payment available to the county's accounts in National Bank and Co-operative Bank.
A senior representative in the governor's office stated that they were looking to relaunch the county's payment platform to streamline all payments but remained non-committal on how long it would take to be activated.
There have been reports that City Hall was now urging Nairobi residents to use its platform, epayments.nairobi.go.ke powered by National Bank.
At the same time, NMS is looking to scale up its USSD code *647# which was launched on August 1. The service currently only offers parking payment options.
In the relaunch, Nairobi residents will be able to access and also pay for parking, business permits, land rates, property management and market bill management.
