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Cess in Kenya 2026: what it is, county rates and how to pay

What counties charge on maize, tea, milk, sand and lorries, taken from their own Finance Acts and Bills, and where the courts have drawn the line.

DW
by Reviewed by Josephine Njeri 7 min read Updated 29 October 2026Verified 29 Oct 2026

What cess is and who pays

Counties collect cess from traders, transporters and processors moving goods such as cereals, tea, coffee, milk, livestock, timber, sand, ballast and murram. It is usually paid at a county checkpoint, a market gate or the factory, and the money goes to county revenue.

Under the Crops Act 2013, section 17, counties may charge fees for crop development, markets and licences for crop traders, but these must not hold back the movement of goods between counties. The Act tells the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary to put a mechanism in place against double taxation. In practice, each county still charges its own cess.

Kericho County cess, 2025

From the Kericho County Finance Act, 2025, assented on 13 January 2025:

Produce or materialUnitCess
Maize, small traderPer bagKES 40
Maize, millers and medium tradersTurnover2%
Tea and coffee, producer or factoryTurnover1%
SugarTurnover1%
MilkPer 20 litresKES 10
Sand, pick-up up to 2 tonnesPer tripKES 200
Sand, tractor up to 4 tonnesPer tripKES 300
Sand, canter up to 7 tonnesPer tripKES 400
Sand, lorry 7 to 10 tonnesPer tripKES 500
Sand, lorry 10 to 20 tonnesPer tripKES 1,000
Sand, trailer over 20 tonnesPer tripKES 1,500

Hardcore and murram are charged at the same per-trip rates as sand. Kericho's ballast table has two columns of figures and does not label them clearly, so we have left ballast out rather than guess.

Mandera County Cess Act, 2026

Mandera passed its own cess law in 2026. The county lists The Mandera County Cess Act, 2026 among its laws, posted on 30 March 2026. Traders moving produce through Mandera should ask the county revenue office for the current schedule before loading.

Nakuru's proposed cess law

Nakuru published a draft Agricultural Produce Cess Bill, 2026 in May 2026 for public comment. It is still a draft. It proposes:

  • Maize and wheat: KES 20 per 50kg bag for small traders, 1% of turnover for large and medium traders.
  • Potatoes: KES 20 per 50kg bag.
  • Vegetables: KES 1 per kg.
  • Flowers: KES 400 per tonne.
  • A fine of up to KES 100,000 for not paying at the collection point.

Flower exporters went to court over the KES 400 per tonne charge. In June 2026 the High Court temporarily stopped Nakuru from collecting it and ordered impounded trucks released (The Standard).

How to pay cess

  1. Pay at the county checkpoint, market or revenue office, or through the county's revenue portal or M-PESA channel where it has one.
  2. Ask for an official county receipt every time. Kericho's Act says a receipt is issued for all payments and collectors must carry a county ID.
  3. Keep the receipt with the load. It is your proof at the next checkpoint in the same county.
  4. Expect to pay again in the next county. No county law we read makes another county's receipt valid.

If you do not pay, counties can impound the goods or the vehicle. Kericho's Act lets its agents impound items from non-compliant traders and auction anything unclaimed after three months.

What the courts have said

  • Kakuzi v Murang'a County, April 2024. The High Court held that Murang'a's 1% cess on tea and fruit was a tax that no Act of Parliament authorised, and so unconstitutional. It also found the county's 2013 Finance Act had never been properly published in the Gazette (Kenya Law).
  • Nyandarua export produce cess, 2026. The Court of Appeal declined to suspend Nyandarua's cess on export produce while an appeal is heard (Business Daily, 19 April 2026).

So the line is this: a county can charge for a service it provides, but a cess that is simply a tax on turnover is open to challenge. Each case turns on the county's own law.

Sources

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