Members of the Uasin Gishu County Assembly on Wednesday, November 29, 2023 passed the County Finance Bill, 2023.
The Bill was passed with the MCAs adopting multiple recommendations that were made by the Committee on Finance, Budget and Appropriation – which was a major win for traders.
Among the amendments that the committee made is setting penalties on failure to pay for license fees at 50 per cent of the applicable charges.
According to the committee’s report, the decision to slash the penalty fee to 50 percent was informed by the fact that county loses revenue to rogue employees who extort money from the defaulting traders.
“The committee proposes to have all penalties set at 50% of the applicable fees and charges,” read part of the report.
“It has come to the attention of the committee that the higher penalty imposed on the license and permits defaulters has provided avenues for corruption whereby the defaulter falls vulnerable to extortion choosing to pay a bribe of one or two thousand instead of the penalty between Ksh10,000 and Ksh40,000. Due to high penalty charge, the county is losing on revenue to corrupt individuals,” it added.
The MCAs also lowered all fees and charges that had been increased for the 2023/2023 financial year. This move, the committee noted was informed by feedback from members of the public during the public participation forum.
Public participation
In the report, it was noted that members of the public were calling for reduction of taxes that had been proposed for upward change to either where it was if not to a lower mark.
However, the committee recommended that any increase on fees and charges be capped at 50 percent for the current financial year.
They also agreed to maintain the proposed fees for those that were reduced, maintained and newly introduced revenue streams.
In addition, the committee pointed out that the county was losing out on revenue from the boda boda industry due to the charges being higher than that of the neighboring counties.
“The committee calls on the county treasury to come up with modalities to harmonize fees and charges along the border,” read the report signed off by the Finance, Budget and Appropriation Committee chairperson Samuel Sawe.
Uasin Gishu County has projected to collect Ksh982,050,748 own source revenue in the 2023/2024 Financial Year.
However, the Office of Auditor General says the county has a potential to collect Ksh2.7 billion in own source revenue. It is a projection that members of the Uasin Gishu County Assembly Finance, Budget and Appropriation Committee also agreed with.
“The committee is convinced that if compliance measures are instituted that ensures all business pays for their licenses without fail and if leakages avenue are blocked, the county will get even more than Ksh2.7 billion without increasing its fees and charges,” the Committee’s chairperson noted.
With the MCAs giving the County Finance Bill, 2023 a green light, it will now be forwarded to Governor Jonathan Bii to assent to into law.
