Attorney General Justin Muturi has defended the new tax measures proposed by the government, saying they were necessary to widen the tax base.
He said more people need to be tax payers if the government was to raise enough money to keep the Vision 2030 dream on course.
He said the Kenya Kwanza administration was determined to have an inclusive development that left no one behind and hence the Bottom-Up Economic Agenda (BETA).
Mr Muturi was speaking at Kenya School of Government in Embu during a forum to disseminate the 4th Medium Term Plan which is supposed to guide the country’s development between 2023 and 2027.
He said reforms in the health sector, for example, include the introduction of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) that will not only improve access to health services but also has special provisions for the very poor families that may not afford the premiums.
The State Department for Technical and Vocational Training (TVET) Principal Secretary Esther Mworia, said the 4th Medium Term Plan stands on the agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), housing, healthcare and the digital superhighway pillars.
Dr Mworia said the plan will be looking to enhance the leather, textile, dairy, edible oils, tea and rice value chains. Others are the blue economy and mining.
She said the government’s aim is to improve productivity to raise the GDP annual growth rate from the current 4.8 to 7.2 per cent.
Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire said the MTPIV aligns well with her government’s dream of improving the county’s economy.
She expressed her elation at the fact that the National Government had intentions to fund the construction of markets and three large dams at Kamumu, Thambana and Thuci areas that will solve the county’s need for irrigation water.
She said her government is boosting the county’s dairy sector by providing sexed semen.
By Steve Gatheru
