Khalwale wants Senate to enact law on county tax

By BRYAN TUMWA

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale wants the Senate to enact legislation that will restrict governors from imposing taxes arbitrarily while looking for sources of county revenue.

He said the Senate will introduce four bills to cure some of the challenges that face counties, one of which will ensure the devolved governments do not impose crippling taxes on consumers and business people.

“As senators, we are aware of the challenges that face devolution which is why we are preparing four bills to fix the situation. One of the bills will ensure governors do not go around taxing chicken, goats and the dead. It started in Kiambu but we want to extinguish all that,” said Dr Khalwale.

He accused the governors of causing panic in county governments by proposing all manner of charges, which would not be conducive in creating public confidence in devolution.

“We as senators are also going to come up with legislation to ensure that a governor and his ten executive members do not sit in office to share money meant for development. A county development board will be created in the counties to determine how money is used for accountabil