Counties
The confusion brought by parallel city parking accounts has found some innocent motorists in Nairobi are at the mercy of parking attendants who clamp their cars for paying parking fees through mobile SMS code *235#.
This is after the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) introduced another code, *647#.
Sources at City Hall have linked the clamping of cars to a dispute between the county and the KRA over which of the two codes should be used to pay for parking.
The taxman has been collecting taxes and levies on behalf of City Hall since last May and asked motorists to use the *647# to pay for parking fees but did not declare the *235# code invalid, leaving a room for rogue parking attendants to harass motorists.
“It (clamping) will be a mistake because the KRA notice didn’t say that the other one is invalid and if they did so no one would use it. Attendants have nothing to do with it (illegal clamping) but they are given instructions by their superiors,” said the source who sought anonymity.
Parking attendants are currently under the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) and the KRA.
The taxman had not responded to queries on the matter by press time even as City Hall official says the taxman rejected their proposals on the code to be used.
“We are not involved anymore after KRA took over as they never wanted our input. Motorists should not be punished by the internal issues that would have been sorted internally,” said the official.
The taxman became the principal collector after the then governor Mike Sonko surrendered health, transport, public works, utilities, ancillary and planning and development services to the NMS.
Source: Business Daily Africa
