Relief for bar, hotel owners as county halves licence fees

Bar and hotel owners from Murang’a have lauded the move by their county government to reduce their licence levy by 50 per cent.

The traders will now be required to pay Sh15,000 instead of the Sh30,000 which they had been paying before.

Led by spokesman Simon Njoroge, the traders welcomed the move, saying most of them have not recovered from the losses incurred during the time their businesses were closed down.

He said they are required to pay three permits one for the business permit, public health and liquor license and this has been taking a toll on most of them. Slashing of the levy, Njoroge said came after a lot of negotiations with Governor Mwangi wa Iria who heeded to their cry to cushion them from the effects of the pandemic.

“Even after being allowed back to business most of us are not making enough money to be able to pay for the licences” he added.

Njoroge who is also the national chair for the Bar, Hotel and Liquor Traders Association said the sector has been hard hit by the pandemic due to the measures put in by the government to curb the spread of the virus.

He pointed out that in the five counties under lockdown there are about 15,000 bar and hotels most of which are at the a brink of collapse and a large percentage of the 70,000 employees will lose their jobs.

Macharia Kairu, the bar owners association vice chair urged other county governments to follow suit and reduce the levy to the traders to enable them run their businesses.