One of my friends who works for Kiambu County Government sent me this after we had teased and caused over what Kiambu County Government is doing. It’s the official statement from the County Government of Kiambu.
Following the press reports in the dailies and over the media regarding the content of the above Bill, the County Government of Kiambu wishes to clarify certain issues as follows:
1. That over 95 percent of the proposed licenses, fees and charges have been in existence in the defunct Local Authorities and the County Government is only consolidating and harmonizing what has been in existence, to facilitate a uniform application of the same throughout the county.
2. That the County Government has not proposed or even ever conceptualized introduction of taxes for burying people in their own land. The only fee proposed in relation to burying the dead is in the county cemeteries, with a different fee proposed for burial in cemeteries under temporary graves and another for permanent graves. Given the scarcity and value of land in the County and our proximity to Nairobi County, our proposed fee which is over four times lower, we find it is necessary to increase the fee from the current Shs. 1,500 applicable in some counties to the proposed rates of Shs. 4,500, Shs.3,000 and Shs. 2,500 for adults, children and infants respectively. Non-citizens (meaning those who are from outside Kenya) will pay Shs. 25,000. The fee will be used to defray the expenses of the purchase, care, and improving of lands for cemetery purposes. Indeed, our cemeteries are now full and the proposed amounts may not even be sufficient for that purpose. The poor and landless people would always be catered for through exemptions for which we already have a criteria for granting such exemptions.
3. That the Kiambu County Government-Kenya has neither proposed nor even ever conceptualized introduction of taxes for people slaughtering animals or poultry in their homes. Rather, the proposed fee is applicable at slaughter houses and is not new as alleged, and is currently being paid at exactly the same rates proposed in the Bill.
4. On burying carcasses of domestic animals in one’s land, there has never been any fee and the county government has not introduced any charge to that effect. However, a fee would only apply where a person seeks the services of the county government in burying the animal in public land.
5. With regard to licenses for entertainment places and other business premises, the proposed fees are just as in the Single Business Permit fee Schedule that has been in existence and does not therefore reflect any new charges.
6. Finally, the County Government would like to thank all who participated during the public participation process and would like to assure its residents that it would not propose taxes that would impact unfairly on them or ultimately affect industry competitiveness and sustainability.
