Kenya: Flower farmers agree to pay cess
Under the agreement with the Lake Naivasha Growers Group (LNGG), the flower farmers will be paying 20 cents for every kilogram of produce harvested annually. The farmers have also agreed to clear the two years' debt as the county moved in to enforce the recently enacted finance act. This emerged over the weekend when Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua received a Sh10.3 million cheque from the flower farms for the pending debt.
Mr Mbugua said his government did not want to overburden the group with more taxes as they were already paying 48 different fees. He said his government was engaging other flower farms to start paying cess to the county to improve service delivery. "We have agreed with the Lake Naivasha Growers Group that it will collect the cess on behalf of the county on quarterly basis from its members," he said.
LNGG Chairman Richard Fox said 22 of the more than 70 flower farms in the county had agreed to pay cess to the county government. Fox said the group would be collecting the cash on behalf of the county government at a premium fee and challenged non-paying farms to comply.
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