Nairobians to feel the pinch of Finance bill after Sakaja’s nod
By Alvin.Mwangi, October 16, 2023Nairobi residents are set to dig deeper into their pockets after Governor Johnson Sakaja assented the Nairobi City County Finance Act 2023, which imposes new taxes on residents and traders in his effort to raise an extra Sh17 billion.
The law signed by Sakaja yesterday seeks to raise Sh42.3 billion in 2023/24 financial year. Last year City Hall collected only Sh25 billion.
Among those hardest hit are market traders as levies for stalls have been increased by 10 percent.
Nairobi residents residing in county owned houses are staring at rental increments of between Sh2500 –Sh7500.
There is a proposal of a 25 percent increment for estates including Ziwani, Ofafa Jericho, Lumumba, Jerusalem, Maringo, Mbotela, Ngong Road, Shauri Moyo, Gorofani, Bahati, New Pumwani, Landies Road, Outering Road, Uhuru and New Pumwani. Ideally, residents in these estates pay rent of between Sh2,000-Sh22,000.
County has 17,000 houses in Maringo, Uhuru, Kaloleni, Jericho, Buruburu, Kariobangi South, Ziwani, and Jerusalem.
However, it is a win for women as they will not be forced to dig deeper into their pockets to receive family planning services. The Governor said that women in Nairobi were totally against the increase in levies. “We had initially proposed new charges on Reproductive health but, during the public participation, the public expressed their views and we heard and maintained and reduced some of the charges,” Sakaja added.
On alcoholic drinks and licensing, the Governor said they had proposed to raise charges on alcoholic drinks and licensing was adopted to help control the number of drinking outlets across the city. He noted that many views were for the increment in order to curb alcoholism and drug abuse.
For the outdoor advertisement and signage, Sakaja said City Hall has increased application fees for outdoor advertising.
Looking at the City Inspectorate, the county has retained impounding charges in some areas and reduced in others to drive compliance.
Initially, the county had proposed to increase rent by 25 per cent but following consultations, City Hall has only increased it by 10 per cent. “For market services, we had proposed to increase charges but following their recommendations, we have retained the old charges,” Sakaja said.