Liquor traders in Nairobi will no longer be experiencing a tedious process to acquire licenses following the launch of Liquor Pay.
The application that was developed by Nairobi county allows traders to apply or renew their licenses remotely thus saving time and money.
The platform developed by Nairobi County allows traders to log in when applying for a license where they declare parameters of their businesses then they are sent an invoice and once settled they get provisional licenses.
“Within 21 days, you will get a decision to affirm your license so that you get a year license or to reject your license, in which case the clauses for winding down or a review of your application is sent back,” explained Lydia Mathia, Chief Officer business and hustler opportunities
Adding that, “The most important thing that we are saying is that nobody should intercept your licensing process. So by easing the licensing process, we are able to have a much firmer hand in terms of controlling illicit trade,”
In Nairobi, there are about 13,000 liquor businesses that pay an average of between 30,000, 50,000, 80,000, 100,000 based on the size of the businesses.
Liquor traders in Nairobi have welcomed the move praising the county for digitising the process noting that this will also curb corruption.
The traders claim for many years; the process of acquiring licenses in Nairobi has subjected them to huge losses while others were forced to close their businesses.
“The process of licensing from issuance, inspection and being presented has now shifted and will help in taming corruption, it will also be fast and save time,” Boniface Gachoka.
Gachoka is the secretary general of the Bars, Hotels, Liquor traders association of Kenya, (BAHLITA) said this will save them time and money.
“It will be easy for liquor traders to apply for licenses, before manual process was problematic, because there were a lot integral ins uses and rejections which used to stall a lot of things,” said Gachoka
