Machakos County Government gives businesses fee reductions offering relief from Covid-19 Restrictions

The Machakos County Government has imposed new fee measures that will help offer relief to it’s businesses. Business owners in the county will not pay fire license charges for the next 3 months. 

The county has reduced registration fee for matatus by half and waived charges paid by boda boda and tuk tuk operators.  Market traders on the other hand will not pay their business levies for the next 3 months. 

The county has also reduced parking fees and distribution permits for wholesalers and distributors by half. Property owners on the other hand will not pay fees for land sub-division services until end of June. 

The Governor of Machakos, Alfred Mutua said these fee reductions are to offer relief and  cushion businesses as the latest Covid-19 measures are set to hit the revenue of many businesses. 

With the new curfew from 8PM to 4AM and the closure of five counties, Nairobi, Kiambu, Nakuru, Kajiado, and Machakos county, businesses will be operating in a hard economic environment. Besides, most of the businesses are still recovering from the first Covid-19 restrictions imposed in March 2020. 

“At this hard economic times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important that as Kenyans we pull together to assist each other,” Governor Mutua said yesterday.

“To this end and to cushion my people lof Machakos, I have engaged various business community players.”

The fee reductions and waivers however come at a cost for the County Government. The county’s internal collections are set to reduce. 

Machakos county recorded a 20.7% fall in the last half of 2020 raising a Sh417.42 million compared to a Sh526.4 million in the last half of 2019. The fall is a result of the adverse effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic restrictions on bussinesses.