Embu Governor Martin Wambora found himself in a tricky situation after a bill he had recently assented to fell under scrutiny.
The bill titled the Embu County Finance Bill, 2019, fell under the investigative lenses of Embu MCAs after it was suspected that the bill signed in to law was fake.
The Daily Nation on Monday, March 9, reported that MCAs had launched an investigation to discover the elements of the county government that had forged the original bill.
The inconsistencies in the bill were flagged by Morris Muchiri, Chairman for the Finance and Economic Planning Committee who claimed that the alterations made by the tricksters had resulted in an unpopular law that overcharged traders and made it more difficult to run businesses in the county.
Muchiri stated that he was ready to launch an investigation into the alterations providing that most charges had tripled forcing businesses to shut down after failing to meet the costs.
Some of the charges that Muchiri was referring to include the amounts levied for business permits for hawkers and street vendors required to part with Ksh5,000 annually to carry out their work within the county.
Those operating small car washes serving less than five vehicles will under the new law pay Ksh 8,000 for a business permit to operate within Embu Town.
The Deputy Speaker of the assembly, Steve Simba, provided that it was a grave matter and ordered an immediate inquiry into the supposed alterations. He stated that it was worrying is the assembly had passed one version of the law but that an altered version was assented to.
Ruguri Ngandori MCA Muturi Mwombo demanded an immediate halt to the collection of revenue until the questions surrounding the bill were resolved. He further provided that traders were being frustrated through the imposition of punitive charges.
The finance committee which is investigating the matter will report back to the assembly to determine whether the law was altered.
