Tax collectors attached to Kwale County were on Tuesday, January 17, forced to abort the mission after members of the public attacked them.
The officials were met with a rude shock, in what would be termed as 'the hunter becoming the hunted.'
Reports indicated that the county government changed tact and deployed non-locals as the resident tax collectors.
"We identified the county officers, and there are those who are collecting taxes while others are environmental health enforcement personnel," a resident of Kwale county confirmed.
In return, locals rejected the officers who attempted to arrest traders who had failed to keep county bylaws.
"There is no need of having tax collectors from other parts of the county. We want local residents who have been employed by the county government to be the ones collecting taxes here," a resident claimed.
Kwale residents forcefully released traders who were arrested, but not before frog-marching the tax collectors out of the market centre.
The plans to arrest and arraign defaulters and traders who did not pay the levies simply failed to materialise.
A brief discussion with the head of the delegation of county offices left many traders with more questions than answers.
The residents questioned why the officials were operating a joint account which was not designated by the county government.
"I have never heard of a joint account for the county government. You also need to know that a court order is not the last resort," Kwale resident chided one of the county officers.
The South coast traders also take part in economic activities across the border with Tanzania to the South West.
It's for this reason that residents called on the county government to develop friendly tax collection strategies to encourage trade across the border.
President William Ruto ordered the taxman to double revenue collection and raise at least Ksh3 trillion by the end of the 2022/2023 financial year
The head of state also wants to double the current collection in five years.
