Former Health CS Mutahi Kagwe has said that President William Ruto’s endgame plan with the Finance Bill 2024 failed.

Speaking on Spice FM, Kagwe explained that the government included some of the proposals in the bill deliberately to fool the people.

According to the former Health CS, the government included taxes on bread, sanitary pads, and diapers to make the people angry and then dropped them afterward to create the impression that they listen and understand their calls.

“You cannot tell me that at a time when Kenyans are crying like they are, you go out there and put a tax on bread, tax babies, and sanitary pads. There is this philosophy of putting people in the hole, removing them from the hole, and they will praise you,” Kagwe said.

Kagwe explained the strategy using the Bible, stating the government wanted to be the biblical ‘Moses’ by taking the people back to Egypt and then bringing them back to Canaan to attract attention.

He maintained that the move was a political strategy orchestrated by the state.

“It is like the ‘take us to Egypt, bring us back to Canaan, and you will be our Moses’ thing. There is no way anybody could have proposed such taxes at this particular time. I see it as a political maneuver, but they have been called out,” he said.

Why Ruto’s Plan Failed

However, Kagwe explained that the plan failed since the bill still contains other forms of taxes that will impact the people just like the ones that have been scrapped.

“That was an endgame, it didn’t work, I think it backfired. Kenyans are not going to praise anybody because you are saying you are not going to tax bread; there are some other taxes that are still there that need to be looked at,” he said.

He explained that Kenyans are educated and informed and cannot be misled by the government’s political plans.

“The generation that we have today is not people that can be fooled easily. They can see right through your imagination,” Kagwe added.

Also Read: Finance Bill: Govt Drops Contentious Tax Proposals After Pressure

Listening & Understanding Difference

He also advised the government and the people to differentiate between listening and hearing while conducting public participation.

Kagwe said the Constitution directs the government to listen to the people, adding that meaningful public hearing is part of the law-making process.

“There are two sides to that: the citizens have got to make the hearing meaningful such that when you go to make a presentation, it is serious and well thought-out. The Committees must also go and listen to what people are saying,” he said.

The former CS maintained that the tax proposals that were removed from the finance bill were not supposed to be included during the drafting process.

Also Read: Ruto Gives MPs Orders on Finance Bill 2024

Govt Drops Finance Bill Tax Proposals

After a Parliamentary Group meeting chaired by President William Ruto, Finance Committee Chairperson Kimani Kuria announced that the government has dropped some tax proposals contained in the Finance Bill 2024.

Some of these proposals include a 16 percent VAT, Motor Vehicle Tax, excise duty on vegetable oil, and the proposed increase on mobile phone transfer services.

The government also removed VAT on the transportation of sugarcane and dropped the eco-levy on locally manufactured items, including diapers and sanitary towels.

However, the government proposed excise duty only on imported eggs, onions, and potatoes to protect local producers.

The government also pledged to hire all 46,000 Junior Secondary School intern teachers for permanent and pensionable terms and recruit another 20,000.

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