A Working Nation Anchors Its Foundation On The People

What is a country? A country is a “nation” with its own government, occupying a particular territory.

Kenya, for instance, is a country made up of regions, counties, constituencies, districts or sub-counties, wards, and villages.

Now, what is the difference between a nation and nationhood?

• A nation: a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language inhabiting a particular country or territory.
• Nationhood: the fact or status of being a nation, national identity or independence. It is basically a sense of belonging or ownership of a nation.

You cannot have a “country” without a “nation”. In simple terms, a country is known by its people and what they do to bond through nationhood.

A good country has a “functional” government whose main role is to take care of the people by empowering them socially, politically and economically.

A country loses the meaning of being a “nation” when its government, instead of performing the custodian duties bestowed upon it by the people, turns against the same people and “starts to eat them.”

No country has ever succeeded through making its own people miserable and driving them to “early economic extinction.” The reason why people have a government is for the said government to perform some function on behalf of the people.

Kenya is an amazing country but the government and government agencies seem to be taking the “privilege” bestowed upon them by the people to mean a “right” to make Kenyans miserable both socially, economically and politically.

Why do Kenyans pay taxes?

Given an option of not paying taxes, all Kenyans will jump up with joy. Currently, no Kenyan is paying taxes willingly with the sole reason that the more they pay taxes, the more their lives continue becoming miserable, thanks to the same government they are paying taxes to.

But first, why do Kenyans pay taxes? The main reason why Kenyans pay taxes is that it is a requirement of the law. The law demands that every Kenyan pays taxes.

Kenyans pay taxes because they want their government to use the taxes for development purposes that will, in turn, transform the economy.

In short, Kenyans pay taxes to:

• Have better infrastructure such as roads
• Have a clean environment and not littered by garbage all over
• Have access to affordable and sustainable healthcare
• Have access to affordable and competitive education
• Have an enabling environment to do their business
• Have enough security provided by the government

It is obvious that if you pay taxes, you would want to see them put in good use. But not in Kenya. It is like we are paying taxes directly from our pockets into other people’s pockets.

According to a report released by World Bank, Kenyans are not getting value for their taxes. Kenyans have NEVER gotten value for their taxes.

The looting of public resources

“Other countries have the Mafia but in Kenya, the Mafia have a country.”

In Kenya, justice is for dynasties. The law is meant for the poor and hustlers. The poor and hustlers in Kenya must face dirty law. Not justice.

The law in Kenya is sometimes likened to a Hyena that eats her own children after accusing them of smelling like goats.

The amount of looting of public resources in Kenya is on another level. It is like everyone in government, among other things, he or she must be a thief.

Kenyans are being heavily taxed but their taxes are enriching a few hungry, angry and vicious individuals who think it is their right to steal from Kenyans in brought daylight.

Stats show that Kenyans lose more than 1 trillion shillings every year due to corruption. This is more than a third of Kenya’s national budget. In other words, each, the government budgets for funds that will be lost through corruption.

Ironically, no corrupt individual has ever been jailed. All they do is running court battles and forgotten after some time.

Using government agencies to fight investors and businesses

Where Kenya is now, Investments are key. Anybody who is running a successful business, however small, is the reason why Kenya is moving forward.

The cost of doing business in Kenya is the highest compared to other countries. This has caused many businesses, especially, SMEs to close down in large numbers.

More than 450,000 SMEs are closing down annually in Kenya (30,000 monthly and 1,000 daily) due to the high cost of doing business.

In such a situation, it is expected of some agencies as Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to treat those in business with decorum so that they can continue being better for them to pay taxes.

Of late, KRA has been running around like a headless chicken accusing almost every one of evading to pay taxes with mind-boggling amounts.

The taxman shocked Kenyans when he accused businessman Humphrey Kariuki of evading to pay taxes to the tune of 41 billion shillings. The amounts were too high to be owed by one person.

Mr. Kariuki came forth to prove that he had no tax dispute with KRA and that he had been filing his taxes and paying them on time.

KRA then went for Tabitha Karanja of Keroche Breweries and accused her, together with her husband of evading to pay taxes to the tune of 14.5 billion shillings.

Many Kenyans have faulted KRA’s move to proceed with criminal charges against those it claims have not been paying taxes running into billions of shillings.

What many Kenyans are wondering is what became of the KRA’s tribunal that gave a chance of those with a tax dispute to clarify and if found culpable agree on the terms and conditions of paying back.