Homa Bay Governor Cyprian Awiti on Thursday had a tough time explaining himself over low tax collection in his county in the year ending in mid 2018.
The county boss appeared before the Senate Public Accounts Committee, chaired by his own Senator Moses Kajwang, who sought to know why the collection has been reducing.
The committee pointed out that the county collected Sh101 million in 2017-2018 financial year, which is lower than the Sh144 collected in the previous year.
“What is happening in Homa Bay? Are you collecting and pocketing the money or the economy of Homa Bay is on recession in all these financial years?” the senator posed.
In his response, the county boss defended himself, saying that area residents being "hot-headed" said that they would not pay the tax to the county government.
"Nyanza people especially those from Homa Bay are hot-headed. They told me they won’t pay anything in 2018 after the elections. I could not force them,” he said.
He added that the tax from the fishing sector has reduced as fish have migrated to Uganda. He defended his county as a rural one, thus, the expectation should be lowered.
"The economy is bad; we must look at Homa Bay as a rural county. Our fish have also migrated to Uganda," said the county boss.