Outcry as Kisii mulls Sh20,000 'kesha' fees for churches
Kisii Governor Simba Arati said it was unfortunate that Kisii did not have a public cemetery at the moment because selfish people had grabbed the little land that was left.
What you need to know:
- The County Finance Bill 2023, which has already been passed by the Kisii County Assembly, proposes that churches wishing to conduct keshas will have to pay Sh5,000 per week once Governor Simba Arati signs the bill into law.
- A few days after the bill was passed, some members of the clergy lambasted the county leadership for introducing levies on keshas and crusades, which had never been done before.
A section of the clergy in Kisii has condemned plans by the county government to tax churches that hold night vigil prayers, commonly known as keshas.
The County Finance Bill 2023, which has already been passed by the Kisii County Assembly, proposes that churches wishing to conduct keshas will have to pay Sh5,000 per week once Governor Simba Arati signs the bill into law.
In another way of casting the net wider to increase its own source of revenue, any preacher who takes to the streets to spread the gospel will have to part with Sh2,000 per week to be allowed to minister to the public.
The fee is even higher for preachers who use loudspeaker-equipped vans, who will have to fork out up to Sh8,000 a week.
A few days after the bill was passed, some members of the clergy lambasted the county leadership for introducing levies on keshas and crusades, which had never been done before.
The chairman of the Kisii Pastors and Clergy Forum, Lawrence Nyanuga, has described the decision as unfortunate and urged Governor Arati not to assent to it without a review of the issues affecting them.
Betrayal
Pastor Nyanuga said the move was the highest form of betrayal the Kisii community had received from elected leaders.
“They have now turned against us and are imposing levies on us. Yet when they were seeking leadership positions, they were asking us to pray for them and urge our members to support them,” Pastor Nyanuga lamented.
He criticised the move to tax the church and instead asked the government to help them reach out to many souls through evangelism.
“In most cases, keshas do not attract many people. The county government thinks that we are making money by holding night vigils, but that is not the case. Churches are not profit-making entities and therefore they should not be considered [as such],” Pastor Nyanuga added.
Taxing God
While the clergy believe that taxing them is tantamount to taxing God, a section of Kisii residents have welcomed the move to make churches pay these levies, saying it will help regulate preachers and churches that play loud music, especially in residential areas.
"I fully support the move to have people conducting keshas get taxed. For instance, I hardly have good sleep on Fridays…because of competing sounds from different churches. I applaud the County Government of Kisii for coming up with that proposal, which in my opinion was supposed to have been brought as early as yesterday. Once this is brought into force, I am convinced it will curtail churches and other places of worship from playing loud music and this will give us easy sleep,” said Mr Enock Ogoti, a resident of Daraja Mbili.
