Counties have until the end of 2027 to set up digital systems that will allow traders and property owners to apply for licences online, in a move aimed at ending manual applications blamed for abetting corruption besides being prone to delays.
The authorities have three years from January 2025 to comply with this requirement, which is part of the County Licensing (Uniform Procedures) Act, 2024, that compels all counties to digitise their licence application processes.
Traders and property owners currently apply for various licences like Single Business Permits (SBPs), rates and variation of existing permits manually, allowing for corruption that denies the units revenue, besides delays that frustrate applicants.
Shifting licence application processes to an online system will also allow for tracking of traders operating illegally and defaulters, in what will grow revenue collections and boost their ability to self-fund projects and operations.
“A licensing authority shall, within three years of the commencement of this Act, put in place mechanisms to enable the electronic application for grant, renewal, transfer or replacement of a licence or a variation of a condition for the issuance of a licence,” reads the Act.
Counties are under the new Act required to set up County Licensing Boards, whose sole responsibility will be to consider applications for licences, grant, amend, renew, restore and replace licences.
The new law is meant to create a uniform licence application procedure across all counties, and give certainty to investors on how long it will take to have their permits approved.
Counties have powers to charge various fees for permits such as parking, SBPs, liquor fees, cess, public health and advertising among others.
Traders and investors have over the years decried the manual licence application process due to the need to physically visit various offices, besides high rate of graft, as rogue officers ride on the lack of digital platforms to demand bribes in order to process applications.
The devolved units have since 2013 struggled to meet their own source revenue targets, mainly due to use of manual systems for licences and graft.
For example, in the first three months of the current financial year that will end in June 2025, counties raised Sh12.68 billion or just 14 percent of the Sh85.22 billion that they target to raise in the full year.
Dismal own source revenue collections have forced the devolved units to increasingly rely on the National Treasury for cash to run operations and pay salaries.
The respective licensing authorities that each of the 47 counties are set to establish, will be required to consider, approve or reject license applications within 28 days.
Chief State Counsel “A licensing authority shall be deemed to have allowed an application if the licensing authority fails to determine the application within twenty eight days after the application is made or within the time prescribed in the relevant licensing legislation, whichever is earlier,” adds the Act.
