Contractors in Kericho County have moved to court following the hiking of business permit fees by the county government from Ksh 5,000 to 23,000.
Flanked by Kericho human rights center activist Robert Ng'eno, the businessmen on Tuesday, January 30 filed a petition at a Kericho court where they were granted a certificate of urgency.
The court further set an inter-party hearing which has been pencilled in for February 20, 2024.
Speaking in Kericho following the court's declaration, Ng'eno, the human rights activist, lamented over the tough business environment in the county.
"The case that we have in court is much about the payment of money that is not in the Act (Finance Act, 2023) and that is the concern," Ng'eno stated.
The businessmen further claimed that they had raised the issue with Members of the Kericho County Assembly who claimed they were not aware of the issue.
According to the contractors, based on the Finance Act, they were under the impression that the fees were supposed to be hiked up to Ksh 8,000.
However, they were surprised to learn that they would be paying Ksh23,000, a whooping Ksh15,000 more.
This disparity, they said has affected business operations in the county.
Even as the group took to court over the hike in permit prices, other businessmen across the country have been complaining about the tough business environment.
Several companies have been forced to retrench employees to stay afloat.
For instance, Unga Limited company was the latest to record about 50 job cuts on December 3, 2023.
"Currently the biggest challenge for many organisations is to remain financially viable from both profitability and more importantly, cash flow perspective," Joseph Choge, Group Managing Director stated following the mass lay off.
