Nairobi senator Edwin Sifuna has weighed in on the governments move to overtax Kenyans.
During the Day Break show at Citizen TV, Sifuna noted that as opposition leaders, they do not support the government’s decision to impose heavy taxes on common citizens at a time when they are facing tough economic times.
“Because of the economic situation in the country, we in our own view did did not support the imposition of extra taxation on Kenyans at this point in time we need the economy to recover we need for people’s pockets to recover and its having a negative effect. You have seen reports of major global conglomerates, manufacturers who operate in this country shedding jobs, you have heard reduction of taxes because Kenyans are consuming less even the petrol it has had the opposite effect the revenues that were expected to be raised by government are not being realized,” the senator said.
Sifuna added that taxes were being increased because the government was spending more money on travel and hospitality. A recent report indicates that the President William Ruto and his deputy spend Kshs1.3 billion on travelling in a period of 9 months.
“We have also been told because of the cost of living, the margin of increase in the cost of living the cost of produce and the cost of goods, there has been 4% increase on the cost of hospitality, the money that is spent by government on bashes and travelling and entertainment and you wont be surprised that the number one government entity spending at least 2.3 billion shillings on hospitality is the office of the president,” he said.
Sifuna further said that the solution to the problem is the government should cut spending. He asked the leaders to tighten their belts first before asking a common mwananchi to do so.
“Let these people not tell us many stories the very clear solution to this problem is known first of all we all need to tighten our belts you can not be asking Wanjiku, Mama Mboga Boda doda to tighten their belts yet your belt you have even removed it and thrown it away. You are spending 2.3 billion shillings, for example the office of the DP put out an advertisement for the supply of sea food. What does Gachagua know about sea food? Huyu ni mtu wa mtura anatafuta sea food ya nini at the expense of our taxpayers you should cut that spending before you ask Kenyans to tighten their belts,” the ODM secretary general said.
