Osoro Challenges Kenyans: How Can We Afford Roads, Electricity, and Jobs Without Increased Taxes?

In a hurry? Here’s a quick summary…

• South Mugirango MP Silvanus Osoro defends the 2024 Finance Bill, criticizing opposition to new taxes as necessary for government operations.
• The bill, aimed at raising Ksh.346.7 billion, faces public scrutiny and parliamentary debate amid calls for its complete withdrawal.

South Mugirango Member of Parliament Silvanus Osoro has criticized Kenyans opposing the 2024 Finance Bill, which proposes a range of additional taxes. 

This unpopular draft law has sparked contention between legislators and citizens, leading to protests in Nairobi on Tuesday ahead of its presentation to Parliament.

In response to the backlash, the government announced the removal of select levies from the bill, including a 16 percent Value Added Tax on bread and excise duty on vegetable oil. 

Despite these concessions, many Kenyans remain dissatisfied and are calling for the bill to be scrapped entirely. 

Osoro, who serves as the National Assembly Majority Whip, dismissed these concerns, arguing that the government needs the proposed taxes to function effectively.

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“When you wake up and say you want roads built, or graduate, get a TSC number and say you want employment, you say you need to be taxed. Ideally, you say, ‘get someplace you can tax so I get employed,’” Osoro stated on Citizen TV’s Daybreak program on Wednesday. 

He added, “When an intern teacher protests in the streets wanting to be employed permanently, they are telling the government to expand the tax base.”

Osoro described the resistance to new taxes as ironic and part of a deliberate campaign to “demonize” President William Ruto’s government, under which the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party operates. 

“When someone in the village says they want electricity, they simply say, ‘Please, tax us’. Kenyans must know that the government runs on your taxes,” he emphasized.

Here’s a video from Citizen TV’s Daybreak Program…

The Finance Bill, sponsored by Molo MP Kimani Kuria, who also chairs the National Assembly Finance and Planning Committee, aims to raise Ksh.346.7 billion through taxes, equivalent to 1.9 percent of Kenya’s GDP, to support the Ksh.3.9 trillion budget presented by Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u last week. 

Osoro contended that the allocation for salaries and development projects in the 2024/25 budget is insufficient, necessitating additional taxes from Kenyans. 

“You need to get a source to fund this Ksh.4 trillion, pay salaries, build roads and supply electricity,” he said.

Last week, the exchequer announced that Kenya plans to borrow Ksh.333.8 billion from external sources and Ksh.263.2 billion from the domestic market to finance the budget. 

MPs are set to debate the Finance Bill from Wednesday and determine its fate before June 30.