Mbowe given 14 days to pay levy for hotel

Chadema national chairman Freeman Mbowe has been given a 14-day ultimatum to pay service levy for a hotel he owns in the area.

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Hai District Commissioner Gellasius Byakanwa issued the order shortly after visiting the Aishi Protea Hotel. The DC said the hotel would be closed should Mr Mbowe not heed the order.

Hai. Chadema national chairman Freeman Mbowe has been given a 14-day ultimatum to pay service levy for a hotel he owns in the area.

Hai District Commissioner Gellasius Byakanwa issued the order shortly after visiting the Aishi Protea Hotel. The DC said the hotel would be closed should Mr Mbowe not heed the order.

The hotel is the third business owned by the opposition politician to be affected. Mr Byakanwa gave a similar order at the Kilimanjaro Veggies also owned by the Chadema chairman. In Dar es Salaam, Mr Mbowe’s night club, Bilcanas, was also demolished by the landlord, the National Housing Corporation (NHC).

Mr Byakanwa directed that all activities at the two-hectare Kilimanjaro Veggies, a horticulture venture, be stopped imemdiately, claiming the activities on the farm were destroying the environment. According to the DC, the farm is localted in the catchment area serving river Weruweru. The DC toured the farm in Nshara village where he issued the orders and asked the National Environment Management Commission to investigate the activities of the farmimg project.

In Hai town, the DC accused Mr Mbowe of owing the government levy funds. Speaking after visiting the hotel, the DC said the businessman, who also doubles as Hai legislator, owes the government some Sh13.5 million in unpaid service levy.

Mr Byakanwa told reporters that he was informed by the District Council executive Director that the council has been missing its revenue collection targets because some businessmen were not paying taxes.

He gave example of Mr Mbowe’s hotel which is alleged to have evaded paying service levy for about five years.

Mr Byakanwa said because the fifth phase government has put its focus on revenue collection as one way of boosting dependency, no businessman would be allowed to evade paying taxes.

He said on January 21 last year the district council wrote to the management of the hotel located in Nshara village, reminding them of the pending levy but there has been no response todate.

“We cannot attain revenue collection targets if businessmen, especially big businessmen like this one, continue to refuse or evade paying taxes.”