This archive report was first published on 5 November 2021.
Published on November 5, 2021, a Supreme Court ruling declared that counties cannot impose charges on services they do not offer, effectively banning the collection of cess on vehicles transporting goods into the county.
However, Mombasa County continues to impose cess charges on vehicles using roads managed by the national government, prompting the Kenya Transporters Association (KTA) to threaten legal action.
KTA chairman Newton Wang'oo accused the county of disobeying court orders, noting that imposing cess as a condition of movement across boundaries had been declared unconstitutional.
"The county, in total and blatant disregard of the orders of the Supreme Court, continues to levy cess charges even when no services are rendered by the county on roads maintained and classified under the national government," Mr Wang'oo said.
Wang'oo also criticized the county for waiving cess charges on miraa transporters entering the county, saying the same should be done for transporters ferrying other commodities.
"The practice that public statements by politicians on the campaign trail have more strength than a judgment of five judges of the Supreme Court is a blatant mockery of the Judiciary," he said.
Transporters now want Mombasa County stopped from continuing with the illegality and what they described as the institutionalisation of impunity.
