Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and his Kiambu counterpart, Ferdinand Waititu, are among seven governors who are wanted by Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) over tax evasion amounting to Ksh13 billion.
The Standard reported that the Nairobi boss has been summoned and is expected to appear before a KRA delegation on Thursday, September 5, for failure to remit more than Ksh4.5 billion in taxes from his county.
Waititu, on the other hand, reportedly never remitted taxes amounting to Ksh3.2 billion.
KRA stated that the counties had been deducting the taxes from their workforce but failed to forward it to them.
The Authority is also probing claims that the counties deducted money from payments made to county service providers but was never forwarded to it.
The other counties whose bosses are expected to appear before the authority are Migori, Homa Bay, Turkana, Kilifi, and Murang’a.
The grilling is expected to take place before the Tax Dispute Resolution Division based at the Ushuru Pension Towers in Upper Hill, Nairobi.
Broken down, KRA disclosed that Kilifi County, under Amason Kingi, owes Ksh2 billion, Migori (Okoth Obado) owes Ksh1.3 billion, Mwangi wa Iria’s Murang’a (Ksh1 billion), Cyprian Awiti’s Homa Bay (Ksh765 million) and Josphat Nanok’s Turkana (Sh455 million).
In his defence, Sonko has previously explained that the deficit arose from the previous administration which was headed by former Governor Evans Kidero.
He further argued that he negotiated with the state on ways to raise the funds in an intervention dubbed 'Nairobi City County Recovery Plan'.
In June, KRA attempted to freeze Nairobi County's assets in an effort to recover the assets but Sonko successfully unfroze them after moving to court.
“KRA does not seem to have any information on the debt swap deal, and from the court and thus any attempt to institute any recovery for this money will be contempt of court.
“I will honour the summons and will present the court order to them,” The Standard quoted the county boss.
