The National Treasury has not fulfilled a parliamentary order that required it to grant the National Land Commission (NLC) authority to collect revenue from the land sector, missing the June 30 deadline set by lawmakers.
In March 2024 the National Assembly approved the NLC chief executive officer as the designated collector of government revenue under Section 76(1) of the Public Finance Management Act 2012, aiming to improve the collection of Appropriation-in-Aid.
Treasury officials later stated that no formal request had been received from the NLC specifying which revenues it intended to collect, saying “The National Treasury has not received any request from the National Land Commission requesting approval to be the collector of revenue, and clearly specifying which revenues they plan to collect.”
An insider from the commission rejected the Treasury’s claim, asserting that the NLC is prepared to carry out its mandate and urging the Treasury to be truthful about the delays in granting the tax-collector role.
At present the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) administers rental income tax, capital gains tax on property sales and withholding tax on rent, while stamp-duty payments were shifted to the Ministry of Lands in November 2023 and are processed through the Ardhisasa and e-Citizen platforms.
Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo has noted that the government collects roughly KSh17 billion a year in rental income tax, against an estimated untapped potential of more than KSh100 billion.
The failure to act raises questions about compliance with Section 25(8) of the Public Finance Management Act, after the directive was reiterated in the 2025 and 2026 Budget Policy Statements and required full implementation by June 30, 2026.
The exact revenue streams the NLC would handle, and how it would coordinate with the KRA and the Ministry of Lands, have not been disclosed, and the parliamentary resolution did not assign all land-related taxes to the commission.
