Taxing the poor to fund the rich in kenya

The last few months, Kenyans have witnessed an ever bulging national debt occasioned by the need to finance the various capital expenditure projects as envisioned in vision 2030 however, I tend to opine that the executive is being held captive by the legislature due to selfish and political interests, the clamor by our lawmakers forcing the Salaries and remuneration commission to award them huge pay perks in country where the GDP per Capita is USD 800 only widens the gap between the have and the have-nots. The president was arm twisted into accepting their salary this would in return mean legalizing VAT ACT NO 35 meant to tax the poor on basic needs, this raises another pertinent question will the taxes be used effectively repay the Chinese loans or shall we as country always revert to soft target taxation groups while major tax evaders and offenders are let loose, the so called fat cats take advantage of the political divisions in the country to advance their imperialist cum capitalist interests.

As a realist accountant I do concur that capital investments in infrastructure and energy have multiplier effects on the general populace; however as country we ought to realize that capital investments only will not spur industrialization unless the government creates an enabling environment that can effectively fend off proponents of the flying geese model, a point in case is the recently completed Thika Eight lane highway  that has seen multinational companies such Pepsi, Foton and the emergence of new Golf Resort Cities e.g. Thika Greens targeting the affluent while the poor can only be offered jobs that are technologically dead and low paying , the current and future governments should devise and give priority to policies that are agro friendly and tech savvy  driven by setting special  investment deductions  incentives for companies and individuals willing to set up novel local  firms with novel ideas along such infrastructural establishments but this  calls for moral respect of intellectual property laws and investing in quality education.

 

Lastly I must commend positively to what our kaka zetu  Tanzania are doing, their resolve to establish new port in bagamoyo and the port of  Dar-es- salam reengineering has given Kenya wake up call to remove trade barriers along the Mombasa – malaba highway and even think of a modern railway inter alia   that in itself has been  demonstrated in the recent meeting between EAC heads of state member but it begs the question do you have to wait for neighbor to wake you up - in a nutshell it’s high time Kenyans stopped reasoning along partisan lines address real issues like the cost of living, immigration, security ,Education ,devolution as opposed to thinking using their surnames when indeed addressing their own personal and political interests.