Business community in Kisii County has petitioned the county government over poor service delivery and called for immediate action over the same.
Addressing the press in Kisii Town on Wednesday, the traders challenged governor James Ongwae’s government to improve service delivery if more revenue is to be collected.
The traders said that the services offered do not correspond with the value of the revenue they remit, calling for a review of the same.
Led by chairperson of Kisii County Businessmen and Residents Association Mr Walter Nyakundi, the traders challenged the governor to implement the findings of a task force instituted after disagreements ensued between the traders and the government over revenue rates early this year.
“After we had disagreed with the government we came up with a task force comprising of representatives from our side and the government's side. We made recommendations agreeable to both parties yet none has been implemented up to this time,” he said.
They revealed that some of the recommendations were to improve sewage drainage, water supply and construct more toilet facilities.
Mr Nyakundi threatened to rally the business community to avoid remittance of taxes if the county government does not implement the recommendations of the tax force.
The traders differed with governor Ongwae’s earlier statement where he attributed poor revenue collection in the last financial year to political infringement.
“The governor should come out clear on the issue of revenue collection. We have all along been remitting our taxes as called upon despite poor service delivery. We are surprised to hear the governor claim that we don’t pay taxes because of political influence. We are one group which cannot be used by politicians,” he said.
They pointed accusing fingers towards some of the tax collectors whom they said should be using fake receipts to fleece the government.
However, Kisii County Executive Committee Member in charge of Trade Mr Osoro Kebati rubbished the traders’ claims of a tax force having been formed and urged them to work together with the county government for development to be realised.
“Claims of a tax force having been formed are not true at all because I can’t remember such a thing happening. Let the traders join us in taking the development agenda of this county to another level instead of engaging in side shows,” he said.