The Mazabuka Municipal Council has hiked trading license fees for all business houses by 50 percent.
The health permit that was previously set at K500 has been increased to K750, while the business permit has been hiked from K666 to K1, 333 annually.
Additionally, the application fee for a business permit has been increased from K20 to K100.
And some prominent business owners who did not want to be named for fear of being victimized, have bitterly complained about the increment.
They stressed that the hike will negatively affect their businesses, saying that the new trading license rates are too high.
They wondered why the Council has increased the trading license rates when it is failing to improve service delivery to the people.
But Mazabuka Municipal Council Public Relation Manager, Caroline Simumba, has clarified that the increment is what is prescribed in Statutory Instrument No 12 of 2012.
She explains that what business owners were paying was too low and not prescribed in the new law under the Licensing Act.
Simumba says the local authority is merely enforcing what is prescribed in the Act, urging business owners with complaints to engage the council on the matter. This is contained in a report published by Byta FM.