The Kenya National Civil Society Centre (KNCSC) has told resident William Ruto that he is completely out of touch with the plight of Kenyans calling upon him to keep his campaign promises of improving the lives of Kenyans instead of making it worse.
The civil society stated that in its rush to impose the housing levy and other taxes on Kenyans through the proposed Finance Bill 2023 that sailed through Second Reading yesterday on the floor of the National Assembly with a commanding majority support, the lobbyist said Kenya Kwanza administration has abandoned its own manifesto that it used to convince voters to elect them in the last election.
Executive Director Suba Churchill said that far from its promise to create “a convergence of political and economic power,” the Kenya Kwanza administration seeks to impose more taxes through the Finance Bill, 2023 on an already overtaxed and impoverished population.
“It is now clear that the Kenya Kwanza administration has not only failed to apply itself to achieving the quick wins and short term plans as outlined in the Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda. The ruling coalition is completely out of touch with realities of deteriorating economic circumstances of the majority of the population grappling with the high costs of living.” He said.
Churchill added that while the 2023/24 budget policy statement and proposals state that “public spending will be directed to the most critical needs to achieve economic recovery and inclusive growth”, it is the submission of the Kenya National Civil Society Centre that the housing programme is not the most critical and pressing need for Kenyans at this point in time.
Besides, he said, the manner in which the Executive seems to be hell-bent on forcing the housing levy down the throats of Kenyans points to the possibility that there could be more than meets the eye in the housing programme.
“There are vested interests in the housing project that have nothing to do with creating jobs for the youth and enabling Kenyans to own homes. The poorly concealed motivation is to reward cronies and financiers who may have supported the ruling coalition during the 2022 elections with the lucrative tenders that will arise from the housing project.” He added.
The Civil Society is also concerned that rather than using logic to persuade Kenyans to embrace the housing programme, proponents of the levy have resorted to deceit.
The society accuses the State of shamelessly lying to those not in formal employment, and university students that they will own houses under the programme for which they have no capacity at this time to make monthly contributions towards the project as required under the Finance Bill, 2023.