Hospital Ward MCA Successfully Moves A Motion To Amend Kiambu Trade Licences Act.

The Kiambu County Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed amendments to the Kiambu County Trade Licences Bill No.4 of 2016.

This bipartisan legislation, moved by Hospital Ward MCA, Thika Mwangi Wa Mwangi, will ensure that the county government gives traders in Kiambu County a chance to pay licences in four quarterly instalments as opposed to the one-off system that has been the case previously. The bill further states that the licence fee shall not be calculated on a pro rata basis irrespective of the time of application for the trade licence.

  

“This is a great breakthrough for the residents and traders of Kiambu County and I take this opportunity to sincerely thank the members of the county assembly for unanimously voting for these amendments. Our young business people having been crying for this alternative as it has been one of the reasons they have been failing to pay for their trading licences. It had been quite a challenge for those venturing into business for the first time to pull together resources to buy stock and pay for the licences at the same time,” said the MCA.

The passing of this amendments will be music to majority of the small traders who always find it very hard to raise these amount in one go.

Under the county business licensing act, A person shall not carry out any business or provide the services specified in the Second Schedule without a valid license is sued by the county any person who intends to carry out any of the business within the county shall apply for a license or permit from the sub-county office where the business is located and shall be issued with a license upon payment of the fee. Anyone who contravenes any of the provisions of the act is deemed to have committed an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or both.

To apply for a licence, one is required to pay an Annual Trade License Registration Fee of sh. 300 plus a trade license fees charged depending on the type and nature of the business. For instance, a businessperson who operates a kiosk, light or temporary construction of less than 5 sq. metres is expected to pay an annual fee of sh. 2,500 within Thika Town which has been categorised in Zone A.  Market traders and hawker's license within the same zone pay sh. 4,000 as the Hyper & supermarket premises with construction of over an area of 625 sq. metres pay sh. 75,000.

A section of the amendments of the Kiambu Trade Licence Bill 2016.

This notwithstanding that they have to pay other fees such as the solid waste management service fees.

There has been an outcry among the traders in Kiambu County with majority of them accusing the county government of charging very exorbitant fees that are driving them out of business.

Some of them claim that they are usually willing to pay but they find themselves in the wrong side of the law as they are unable to pay these amounts one of.

Mwangi Wa Mwangi is also the brains behind the Kiambu Biashara Fund, an investment and advisory facility created to provide capital, training, and mentorship to enterprises that provide viable solutions to the big challenge of unemployment.

The fund was launched by Kiambu Governor William Kabogo to improve the lives of the youth, women and people with disabilities through the provision of interest free loans, especially those who could not have otherwise accessed loans from commercial banks for starting a business. The repayment period for these loans is usually one and half years.