As Kenyans continue to cry from within over the hefty taxes imposed on them by the government of the day, those taxing them are living like kings and queens at their expense.
In the wave of the talk of the country is broke and running on the wheels of debts, President Uhuru Kenyatta had promised Kenyans that the government was doing everything possible to prevent wastage of public funds.
Even before the dust over taxes could settle, senators planned for the first sitting outside Nairobi where they are said to have spent 30 million shillings in one week.
The senators, some of whom come from the most impoverished counties, used 15 million shillings to book four top hotels in Eldoret for six days.
10 million shillings went to the renovations of Uasin Gishu County Assembly among other costs with the speaker of the Senate, Kenneth Lusaka saying what matters is not how much was used but that “the sittings in Eldoret have been of far much greater value to Kenyans than the money cost.”
Kenya’s public debt is now more than 5 trillion shillings with each Kenyans owing debtors at least 100,000 shillings. According to stats by the National Treasury, by the year 2022, Kenya will be owing to the world at least 7.2 trillion shillings.
To help reduce on borrowing, the government decided to seek refuge in the Finance Act 2018 which introduced among other things, 8 percent in Value Added Tax (VAT) on petroleum products, 18 shillings on every liter of kerosene, 15 percent on calls and data as well as 20 percent on all bank transactions.
Kenyans will also start contributing 1.5 percent of their salary, with an equal percentage from their employer towards the funding of the affordable housing program outlined in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big 4 Agenda. Although the deduction of the amount is set to kick off, the government seems not to be having a plan of how the program will be carried out.
Among the issues that the Head of State used to justify the taxes was that the cost of running the government was too high. What he forgot to mention was that the government is made up of extravagant individuals who squander public money knowing there is more coming in from the poor Kenyans.