A meeting convened on Monday at Thika Community Hall to discuss Kiambu County Finance Bill 2015/2016 was thrown into disarray after participants disagreed with representatives from the county government.
Representatives of the public, who were mainly drawn from the Thika business community, accused governor William Kabogo of duping them that he had lowered levies.
The businessmen also said that Kabogo was cheating the public through electronic and press advertisements that levies had gone down yet they have remained the same. However, they lamented that the government is charging harsh penalties for late payers.
Hospital Ward MCA Mwangi wa Mwangi who was in attendance asked the governor to come clean on which levies had gone down.
"My people are paying levies as before despite the county government having announced that the levies had gone down. And to make the matter worse they have imposed penalties," lamented Mwangi.
Mr Kimani Kang'ethe who is the Chairman of Thika Traders Association said that the county government was charging high levies going against a court order that had stopped the same.
"It is very bad to cheat the public. No levies have gone down and we are paying as usual. This is a replica of 2014/2015 Finance Bill," said Kang'ethe.
Another meeting has now been called for Thursday for Thika traders to discuss and approve the bill.