Kiambu County Residents Calls Upon Governor Wamatangi To Assent To Valuation And Rating Amendment Bill
By Felix Njenga
Kiambu county residents have called upon Governor Kimani Wamatangi to hasten on assenting the County Valuation and Rating amendment bill which was passed last week.
The residents had earlier faulted the valuation and Rating Act 2016 which had made it compulsory for residents owning freehold land to pay taxes failure to which a county executive committee member of finance had the power to sell land through auction or a private treaty.
According to Eric Mutura, the Speaker of the Bunge Mashinani lobby which had gone round Kiambu county to collect signatures to present a petition to compel the assembly to repeal the valuation Act 2016 while appreciating the county assembly for heeding to the residents demands called on the governor to assent to the bill as further delay was creating tensions which could soon spark heated public debate.
“The MCAs passed the Valuation and Rating Amendment bill 2024 but Kiambu citizens are reading mischief in governor’s delay to free our lands.” he said.
According to the constitution, a Governor is required to assent to a passed Bill presented by the Speaker of the house within a period of 14 days or may refer the Bill back to the house with a memorandum outlining his reservations.
Mutura said that Kiambu citizens may have to visit the Governor’s office in large numbers to question his delay on the matter.
The County Assembly rejected submissions by Kiambu county government proposing to reduce the land rates from the 0.25 percent proposed in the Act to 0.15 percent.
The Assembly also rejected a proposal of zero rating of all freehold properties not used for commercial purposes and those less than five acres being used for domestic purposes, meaning that the owners would not pay anything.
According to Peter Wainana MCA Karuri ward who moved the amendments and presented the report on behalf of the Committee on County Planning and Urbanization said that they considered the concerns of land owners in Kiambu county who had even presented a petition to the assembly to repeal the law since it was punitive and unanimously removed the clauses which had made their lands be ratable.
“As an assembly we have unanimously repealed the Valuation Act 2016 which saw the freehold land being ratable,” Wainaina said.
He said that they ammended a clause which saw land owners to pay arrears dating 8 years back for lack of rates payments.
“We have passed that no land owner on freehold land should pay penalties dating back 8 years as per the previous law,” he said.
He said that they also amended that the penalties to be charged for late payment of the land rate should be 10% p.a down from the previous charges of 36% p.a.
“We agreed that the 3% per month penalty on late payments of land rates on commercial land making it 36% per annum was too high and we passed into law that kiambu people will be paying charges at 10% per annum,” he said.
The assembly also repealed Section 45 of the Act which gave Finance executive powers to sell land through auction or a private treaty if one fails to pay land rates.
The lobby group has since called on the county government to put into consideration allocating 1% of the county budget to civic education as it had been demanded in the petition.
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