•Machakos governor said that KRA was hounding his businesses too.
•Mutua said that he is working hard to make sure he settles his tax arrears.
Image: GEORGE OWITI
Maendeleo Chap Chap Party leader Alfred Mutua has said Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is not targetting anybody but was out to ensure everyone was tax compliant.
Speaking to Citizen TV, the Machakos governor said that KRA was after him due to some tax arrears he owes them.
“The Deputy President (William Ruto) should not say that KRA is hounding people just because of Keroche and because the leader has joined UDA. We have to pay taxes,” Mutua said.
“I’m telling you Keroche is not the only one suffering. I have been given a letter that I have to pay so much money otherwise, I would get in trouble,” Mutua said.
The Machakos governor added that KRA is after everybody who runs a business and has defaulted to pay their taxes.
“It’s not that I’m not paying, it’s because the economy slowed during the Covid-19,” he said.
Mutua added that he entered into an agreement with KRA on how he would pay the taxes.
Mutua noted that everyone running a legitimate business has had to enter into a negotiation phase with the taxman.
He said that he is working hard to make sure his tax arrears are settled and urged every Kenyan to do the same.
“Let everybody pay their taxes. It is not personal, it is business.”
This comes two days after the DP said if he is elected president, he will free KRA from the state capture.
He said he will erect a digital payment platform to make sure that KRA does not have to destroy people’s business and fight with Kenyans, referring to the Keroche-KRA conflict.
KRA first shut down the Keroche Breweries on December 2021 and again in March 2022. The shutdown was due to Sh332 million tax arrears.
On Wednesday, however, Keroche Breweries reached a new deal to pay undisputed tax arrears to KRA in the next 24 months.
KRA, in a statement, said the brewer will pay Sh957 million in the two year period starting from January 2022.