Business people complain of high taxes at Chwele town

Written by Daniel Saenyi

A council officer collecting tax from a bodaboda operator in Chwele. [Photo/Daniel Saenyi/WestFm]

Trouble is brewing between the Bungoma Central district administration and local boda boda operators over tax collection at Chwele town, Bungoma County.

The boda boda taxi operators have raised concern over the raised tax money from Sh40 to Sh80.

After the town was elevated into the district headquarters for Bungoma Central district, money collected from various business operators at the market has been raised as the town struggles to attain expectations of its newly acquired status.

In the implementation of the new taxes that is meant to fund developmental projects in the town, some of the public transport operators claim that they pay more than enough to the council and yet no roads have been constructed or repaired.

They claim the council officers are even found collecting money along the village roads from any business or business operator.

The road from Chwele to Lwakhakha is in very bad condition yet it is the one with many roadblocks taking money from motorbike operators’ as tax for the towns’ development.

 According to motorbike riders, the road has at least 8 road blocks.

Mr. Kennedy Wamalwa, a motorbike operator said that they even took the initiative as motorbike riders and come together to repair the road from Nalondo to Msese, and immediately it was finished, county council operators put stops to collect taxes.

Chwele is only town with this many county council stops in Bungoma County yet there is little development being done.

Public transporters claim that they even pay more than once a day and this is hard on them especially in these hard economic times.

However, officers from the district office at the town said that the claims are baseless because they only collect taxes once per day from every business person.

They also denied the allegations that the riders came together and repaired the road from Nalondo to Msese saying that they are just riders and they have no way of acquiring the capital for the repairs of the road.

Chwele town is on the verge of development and it needs capital to facilitate this, caution should be taken as some people may take advantage of this and exploit the towns’ people, the economy is hard enough as it is to be added on another burden of false tax.