By Geoffrey Wainaina
I have read and Listened to the President memorandum to Parliament on why he rejected Parliament’s decision to reject more taxes on fuel. The President in his own words called the Move by Parliament “Good politics but Bad leadership” In Mr. Kenyatta’s thinking and wisdom Parliament did not take time to deliberate on what will fill the gap in his budget if he is not allowed to tax Kenyans More. Mr. Kenyatta comes from the school of thought that his ambitious development agenda together with his bloated governance structure must be funded through taxing the already overtaxed wanjiku and NO other way.
Our national assembly on the other hand believes that wanjiku is aready overtaxed and taxing him more is akin to trying to Milk a cow already milked dry- you can only draw blood.
However, I need to applaud the President for acknowledging that the bloated governance structure we gave ourselves in 2010 is proving too expensive. But I fault him and his technocrats for not giving us a solution on the way forward. Mr. Kenyatta solution is taxation and over-taxation. Mr. Kenyatta’s Pundits at the helm of treasury are in my view intellectually Lazy not to think outside the box. They are employed to do so. They have not advised their boss that you cannot tax your country into prosperity.
That’s why The People representatives in the National assembly must rise to the occasion tomorrow during the special sitting.
As a first step they must defy the President. Its time to tell the President that on this you’re wrong! You must do it politely but firmly. But you must go Further. You must send home the Cs Finance Rotich. The work of any accounting officer in a ministry is to advice the boss in public good. Cs Rotich is intellectually Lazy to do that. He has failed to do so… There are so many ways to fill the budget gaps without doing the following ridiculous things Rotich intends to do:
1. Raising more taxes on fuel directly affecting the poor.
2. Reviewing interest rates caps .
3. More taxations on Mobile money transfers.
Finally, you Must give alternate ways to fill the Budget gaps. This will include in the short-term
1. Raising taxes on imports that we produce locally- how on earth is it possible that Maize from Uganda is cheaper than Maize in Kenya. How is it possible that its cheaper for our supermarkets to sell Ugandan eggs than Kenyan eggs.
2. Cutting down on wasteful expenditure in government from frequent unnecessary travels, luxury vehicles, exaggerated procurements etc etc.
In the Long term constitutional amendments must be initiated to amend the ridiculous bloated governance structure we bequeathed ourselves in a hurry to get this new Katiba. We cannot be Paying 90% of the funds devolved to counties to salaries. Its ridiculous! We need to fix it. But tomorrow lets start the journey…
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