Tuesday, November 1, 2022 – President William Ruto is a worried man. This is after ODM Leader Raila Odinga appeared to sabotage his plans to allegedly better the lives of Kenyans.
Speaking at the burial of Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa’s mother Mama Philemona Mutelwa in Mumias, Raila vehemently opposed Ruto’s plan to increase NHIF and NSSF payments.
According to Raila, there cannot be an increment in taxes without public participation.
“Tax regimes cannot be imposed without the participation of the people through their representatives in Parliament.”
“There must be public participation, you cannot rise up one day and say you will increase NSSf and NHIF contributions, no taxation without representation.”
“If they want to increase taxes let them tell us how much and let us have our MPs discuss this matter. We will tell them to reject the proposals,” Raila stated.
At the same time, the former Prime Minister accused Ruto of reneging on his campaign promises, saying the president is now shifting goalposts after realizing that he cannot deliver the lofty things he promised.
“They promised a Ksh.50 billion interest-free fund, and another Ksh.100 billion for women. But now they are changing their words. They are now saying no funds will be issued without paying interest. They said the price of fuel and unga would drop as soon as they are sworn in, now they are asking for one year,” he stated.
Ruto has backed the push to have the rich pay higher monthly contributions to NHIF as well as increase in NSSF contributions from Sh200 to Sh2000.
Besides, the revival of the graduated scale for employees earning more than Sh100,000 will see contributions of workers paid Sh200,000 rise to Sh3,400 while those earning Sh500,000 will increase five times to Sh8,500 per month.
Ruto is banking on measures such as the one mentioned above to at least raise money to do something for Kenyans, but with Raila opposing them, the president will have a hard time running the government.
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