Mbale City Closes 200 Business Premises over Rent

Authorities in Northern city division of Mbale city have closed over 200 business premises over non-payment of ground rent and licenses.

According to Martine Busiku, the senior assistant town clerk of Mbale City Northern division the operation took place Thursday morning in areas like Mission Cell, Nakaloke and Nkoma. 

He adds that they want to recover over 200 million Shillings which the division has lost due to tax evasion by those traders for  the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 financial years.

Busiku also says that the operation is still going on in the entire division, urging those who have not cleared to do so before closure of their business.

The town clerk adds that activities like road maintenance, opening new roads, paying councilors, paying casual workers have been paralysed due to lack of local revenue.

Samuel Wamundu, one of the affected business person at Mission cell says that covid-19 affected them highly which has led to the delayed clearance of ground rent and licenses to Northern division since most of the shops were closed during the lockdown.

Abudala Magambo, the Northern city division councilor, also doubling as deputy speaker at Mbale city has condemned what Northern city division did without first carrying out an assessment.

He adds that some business people have delayed paying ground and licences because they don't know the amount of money they are required to pay for their business.