Split threatens Ruto coalition over tax plan
A split has emerged among some MPs in President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza Alliance over the controversial Finance Bill, 2023 ahead of the tabling of a report on the Bill prepared by the Finance and Planning Committee of the National Assembly.
Members of the committee chaired by Molo MP Kimani Kuria at the weekend confirmed to the People Daily they have proposed some amendments to the Bill and urged Kenyans to be patient. The committee will table its final report in Parliament tomorrow.
Two days later, Treasury and National Planning Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u will read the Budget Statement, also in the National Assembly.
Kuria’s committee received over 1,000 submissions with a majority rejecting some of the proposals in the Bill, including a plan to deduct upto Sh2,500 from formal sector employees and a similar amount from their employers for the Housing Fund.
Two other proposals — to raise VAT on petrol from eight to 16 per cent, and to charge tax insurance compensation — have also sparked controversy.
Budget statement
Tomorrow, Kenyans will know if the contentious clauses will either be deleted or edited before the Budget Statement is presented. Last week, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Moses Wetang’ula, asked MPs to be patient as they would be given an opportunity to vote on the Finance Bill clause by clause, meaning that they can reject some of the controversial proposals and adopt the rest.
Some MPs in the ruling coalition have already indicated that they will be joining the Minority side to shoot down the Bill when it comes up for voting. Those who have spoken have criticised the proposals, arguing that they are not pro-people.
Citizens have also been putting their representatives under pressure to reject the Bill. In Kitutu Masaba Constituency, voters have dared their MP Clive Gisairo, to vote for the controversial Bill at his own peril. They told the MP to his face that voting for the bill would amount to undermining them and going against the wishes of the electorate, who have gave him the mandate to represent them.
“We want tell you that we are not supporting that Bill. It could make our lives more vulnerable and make us suffer more than what we are currently undergoing through, one resident told Gisairo at a meeting in Kemera. Others warned that supporting the Bill would have far-reaching consequences on his political career.
Azimio-One Kenya leader Raila Odinga at the weekend said he would be mobilising legislators from the Minority side to reject the Bill should the government fail to withdraw it in its entirety. He accused the ruling Kenya Kwanza Alliance of enticing legislators to support the Bill to the detriment of Kenyans.
In Western Kenya, several MPs skipped a homecoming ceremony for Kabuchai MP Majimbo Kalasinga after he declared that he will oppose the Bill.
The weekend boycott highlighted the divisions within the ruling coalition, some of whose members have expressly stated that they would vote against it despite President William Ruto saying last week that he was waiting to see which MPs would reject the Bill. The President wants voting to be made transparent so that all can know how MPs voted.
Wetang’ula and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi had been lined up to grace Kalasinga’s weekend homecoming ceremony but skipped it to show their displeasure with the MP’s stand on the Budget.
Boycotted event
Similarly, all local leaders allied to Wetang’ula’s Ford Kenya party boycotted the event. Only MPs Kakai Bissau (Kiminini), Peter Salasya (Mumias East) both of DAP-K and Samuel Moroto (Kapenguria) attended. DAP-K is allied to Azimio, whose MPs have vowed to shoot down the Bill.
Speaking during the ceremony at Musese village in Bungoma County, Sirisia MP John Waluke who graced the event as the chairperson of the Western MPs caucus asked Ford Kenya MPs from Bungoma not to allow the Bill to divide them.
Waluke, who was elected on a Jubilee ticket, told Kalasinga that his colleagues had snubbed the function because of his stand on the Bill. Jubilee Party is allied to Azimio.
“Please tone down and support it,” Waluke told the Ford Kenya MP. “As your chairman, I don’t want divisions among the MPs; my aim is to see you work together. Opposing this Bill is not my wish but the decision taken by these people who voted for me to represent them,” Kalasinga said.
Kalasinga’s views have been echoed by his Kanduyi counterpart, John Makali Makali, also a Ford Kenya MP, who has said he will not support the Bill.
“It will be a betrayal if I will support something which will hurt the electorate,” Makali said at a separate event in his constituency. ‘’They (government) have threatened that we shall not have development when we vote no but I am assuring you I will vote against it”.
Opposed to Bill
In Central Kenya, Githunguri MP Gathoni wa Muchomba is also on record as having said she would vote against the Bill, describing it as punitive and oppressive.
“The ruling class must listen to the cries of its citizenry. That is democracy,” reads a message she posed on her official Facebook account.
A day after the Kalasinga homecoming, Wetang’ula led 17 MPs in a funds drive in aid of Lwandeti DEB Secondary School in Lugari constituency appeared to strike a conciliatory tone, calling on MPs to engage in a sober debate, saying the legislators have the power to amend contentious clauses in the proposed law.
Separately, the chairman of the Parliamentary Budget Committee, Ndindi Nyoro, told a gathering that the Bill was still open for amendments. Nyoro said President Ruto was also consulting widely with leaders about the Bill and had no intentions of forcing it down the throats of Kenyans.
“As leaders we have to consult and listen to the people because we are there to represent their interests and I assure the public that we will consider their input about the Bill,” he said.
Separately, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua — while supporting the Bill — said that only one MP from Mt Kenya was opposed to the Bill. Speaking in Mathira Constituency, Nyeri County, Gachagua said the Bill has many good measures to ease the cost of living if Parliament adopts it.
“All MPs in Kenya Kwanza are behind President William Ruto in the Finance Bill, 2023. Only one from the Central Kenya region is making noise; it is democracy,” Gachagua said. “The Constitution gives MPs powers to push for amendments on clauses that they single out as unfriendly to citizens and that is what I urge them to do instead of decampaigning the document in public meetings in villages,” Wetang’ula said.
With the battle lines between the Majority and Minority sides drawn, it awaits to be seen if the Bill will sail through after the CS reads the Budget statement on Thursday. Whereas a slight majority has indicated support for the Bill, these are few than the MPs who have publicly said they will vote against it and those who are yet to be make up their mind.
Should the Bill be shot down, this will be the first time in Kenya’s history that a Finance Bill will be defeated. However, should this happen, the government cannot spend money, including on salaries, unless MPs unlock the resultant impasse.
Additional reporting by Wangari Njuguna and Evans Nyakundi
