Kilifi property owners owe county government Sh30 billion

Malindi, Friday June 2, 2023

KNA by Emmanuel Masha

Property owners owe the Kilifi County Government more that Sh30 billion in defaulted rates, Governor Gideon Mung'aro said Thursday.

Speaking at Lugwe Primary School in Rabai Constituency during Madaraka Day celebrations, Mr Mung'aro gave the defaulting land and building owners thirty days to pay up or face legal action.

Mung'aro announced a 50 percent waiver on accumulated interest on the rates due and urged the defaulters to take advantage of the gesture to avoid the forfeiture and auctioning of their property.

"At the expiry of the thirty-day ultimatum, the County government will be forced to take legal action against the defaulters, including the auctioning of their property," he said.

He said the debts had accumulated since the beginning of devolution, noting that the failure to pay had affected service delivery in the coastal county.

He said the county had also received investors who are ready to establish an industrial park on 3,000-acre piece of land in Kayafungo which when completed will employ more than 100,000 people.

The governor at the same time urged the National Government to pay his administration Sh950 million, being 30 percent of royalties from mining activities in the devolved unit.

Mung'aro said that his administration had signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese mining company in which the miners will pay Sh12,000 monthly to the County administration during the period the company will be carrying out research on its preferred minerals.

The governor said his administration had achieved a lot in the nine months it has been in power and added that he was committed to work with the County residents to improve the standards of living.

In health, the governor said he had paid all pending bills on medical supplies as well as procured five new modern ambulances in addition to waiving charges on ambulance services.

He said that in order to improve the healthcare of the most vulnerable residents, his administration had registered 8,000 residents with the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) under the newly introduced Kilifi Care.

He said his government would increase the annual bursary allocation from the current Sh350 million to Sh500 million.

To improve businesses, Mr Mung'aro said his administration had renamed his predecessor's Mbegu Fund to Wezesha Fund and increased the annual allocation from Sh100 million to Sh500 million in collaboration with financial institutions.

In agriculture, the governor said his government had distributed 77 tonnes of maize seeds to 36,000 farmers and 100 bags of affordable fertilisers.

He said 22 tractors that has been grounded had been revived and hired out to farmers, clearing 670acres and raising Sh1.5 million to the County Treasury.

Mr Mung’aro said the county government was in the process of creating two new municipalities in the county - Mariakani-Mazeras and Mtwapa – in order to improve services in the targeted towns.

He announced plans to have all buildings in all towns painted in order to make the urban centres more attractive, as well as beautify the towns in a view to attracting tourists and thus revive the ailing tourism sector.

Deputy Governor Flora Mbetsa Chibule said the county government had started a nutrition programme in all the 850 Early Learning Centres in the county in which all pre-primary school children in the county government managed centres receive nutritious porridge.

Ms Chibule said the Kilifi County Government had moved from number 37 to 17 in an Ipsos survey on the performance of counties and that in the eight months the Mung'aro-led administration has been in charge, own source revenue had surpassed the Sh800 million of the previous regime and was approaching Sh1 billion.

The function was also attended by Kilifi South and Magarini Members of Parliament Ken Chonga and Harrison Kombe as well as Kilifi County Woman Representative Gertrude Mbeyu, and was presided over by County Commissioner Josphat Biwott.

Courtesy ; K. N. A