•The finance Bill passed four months ago, increased rates
•Legislators say the number of businesses (150,000) with SBPs recorded by department is inaccurate
Image: MAUREEN KINYANJUI
The Nairobi county licensing department is on the spot for charging residents old rates against those in the 2018 finance Bill.
The Nairobi County Assembly Budget and Appropriation committee noted that the Single Business Permit forms given to 'Wanjiku' still have old rates.
In the SBP form, rates on medium private parking vehicles were Sh50,000 while in the 2018 Finance Bill, it was increased to Sh300,000.
Large private parking vehicles charges were Sh100,000 but were increased to Sh500,000.
Large transport network companies such as Uber, Taxify and Little Cab among others were also to start remitting taxes after the Bill was passed last December.
The maximum levy will be Sh300,000 annually for companies with more than 100 vehicles. Companies with 51 to 100 vehicles will pay Sh100,000, while the minimum levy will be Sh50,000 for companies with up to 50 vehicles.
The Single Business Permits (SBPs) are issued for enterprises under the Licensing of Premises and Traders By-laws 2007, that wish to operate within the limits of the city.
Nominated MCA Emily Oduor demanded to know why the licensing department is charging old rates, four months after the Bill was passed.
On Monday, licensing director Agnes Kisaka said at City Hall that they were charging as per the 2018 Finance Bill, but the old rates were on the SBP forms.
"I had noticed the error in the form and have instructed the officers to make the changes," she said.
Committee chairman Robert Mbatia said the county is misleading 'Wanjiku' since payments were made according to what was on the forms.
"Our revenue is declining because of such errors. This means since December, people have been paying less to the county. This is why the Single Business Permit as a stream is also not meeting its targets," he said.
In the 2017-2018 financial year, SBP revenue was Sh1.78 billion against a target of Sh3.16 billion.
In 2016-17 it was Sh1.8 billion against a target of Sh3.6 billion.
High default rates, weak enforcement mechanisms and slow pace of devolution of the SBP have been blamed for the county's poor performance.
Kisaka also informed the committee that the county has recorded only 150,000 businesses with SBPs in Nairobi. Legislators disagreed with this number.
Embakasi MCA Michael Ogada disagreed with the county's data.
"If one building alone in the CBD has around 300 offices which are all businesses, what about the rest of CBD which is fully occupied with business?" he asked.
The committee said the licensing department uses incapacitation as an excuse to avoid interrogation.
Members said the county is overstaffed. It has 12,000-14,000 workers instead of 8,000-10,000.
"From this, we can conclude that every department has more than the required staff. If you say the county lacks capacity in terms of qualifications you may be right but in terms of manpower, that is not true," Ogada added.
Members also accused the department of laxity. "It's almost been four months since the finance Bill. What excuse can you give for not updating the SBP rates? It's your department and you should take charge,"Ogada said.
The committee told the licensing department to update the rates and charge according to the Bill.
"If you continue undercharging you are creating room for negotiations, hence making room for corruption," Mbatia said.