Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja in his campaign pledges promised to do away with multiple trade licenses by aggregating all the licenses into single business permit; with only QR code reader for scanning.
The unified single business permit was to reduce corruption in the county as well as eliminate several hurdles of doing business in Nairobi.
But this seems to have been forgotten going by the recent proposals contained in the Nairobi City County Finance Bill 2023.
According to the Bill currently before the Nairobi City County Assembly by Finance CEC Charles Kerich, city county traders will still have to pay for the individual license fees in order to receive the unified single business permit that will be issued by the Directorate of Trade Licensing.
This means although it will be called a unified business permit, the traders many of whom were expecting to pay low licensing fees in order to receive the permit, will have to pay for the individual licenses and even part with more following the new charges that have been introduced in the Sakaja-led administration.
According to the proposed amendment to Nairobi City County Trade License Act 2019, the county administration has proposed to ensure that any application for the grant of a trade license is to be accompanied by the relevant fees and for the specific licenses and any other fees for the permits.
“An application for the grant of a trade license shall be accompanied by the prescribed application fees in the first schedule and be accompanied by the prescribed fees for the licenses and permits that are relevant to the trade license,” reads the proposed amendment in the bill.
The new proposal also gives the director of licensing the powers to ensure that traders comply with the relevant laws regarding health, hygiene as well as safety.
The new proposal is shocker to a number of city residents who were expecting the county to do away with all the other licenses and introduce just one single business permit for one to start and operate a business.
Among the several certificates, licenses and permits that traders have to obtain before doing business in Nairobi include fire license certificate, food handling certificate, health inspection certificate, certificate of goodwill and loading zone approval license.
The county has not only maintained all the above licenses but also increased the fees charged to obtain the licenses. A food handler’s medical certificate that was costing Sh1, 000 will now be costing Sh1, 500. An inspection certificate will be costing between Sh10, 000- Sh100, 000 depending on the size of the institution to be inspected while those a fire license certificate will be costing Sh2, 000 for the small scale traders with one or two employees and between Sh12, 000-Sh40, 000 for those with large shops and supermarkets.
While tabling the bill, Mr Kerich explained the classification of the shops operated by the traders was to ensure that several traders who had left the county are back and will see an increase in revenues.
“We have reviewed and graduated the fire Inspections and Certificates as per the sizes and activities in order to enhance compliance level. The Old charges were too high that led to many clients to seek the same services from neighboring Counties that are charging lower fees. The reduction will bring back all the clients and enhance compliance level with a potential of increasing the County revenue by Sh0.2 billion,” Mr Kerich said.
The county in an effort to increase its revenue has also gone for the small fish in the pond. Those who swell dry and fried fish will be required to pay Sh1, 000 to the county while hawkers who sell food with vehicles will be required among other licenses to pay Sh7, 000 on top of other required licenses. Alcoholic drinks retails will also pay double of what they pay as license.
Those who pay Sh12,000 will be required to pay Sh24,000 while those who pay Sh25,000 will be required to pay Sh50,000. This is exclusive of all the other licenses.
The small who sell sweets on the streets will be required to pay Sh2, 500 as license annually to city hall. City hawkers will also be required to pay Sh50 to the county as cess fee up from Sh20 that they were paying previously.
