Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary (CS), Alice Wahome, has asked Kenyans to support revenue collection measures that are being instituted by the government.
Ms Wahome has said it will be difficult for the country to implement the projects that it has outlined in the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) without resources. The CS argued that revenue allocation goes hand in hand with development and as such, Kenyans should support the government’s efforts of mobilizing resources and expanding its tax base.
“There is a lot of noise about the Finance Bill. But if you have a plan that is speaking to expansion of roads, revival of the leather industry and a plan that is talking about increasing institutions. A plan that is talking about adding value, subsidizing fertilizer and improved healthcare, all these will require that we look at the broader resource mobilization,” said the CS.
“Therefore, when we talk about increasing the tax base and bringing more people within the tax parameters, it means we are looking for enough resources to implement the agenda we have set together with the people at this particular time,” added Ms Wahome.
Her sentiments were echoed by Gender and Affirmative Action Principal Secretary, Anne Wang’ombe who underscored the need for patriotism in the remittance of taxes. The PS said that the government is intending to finance the major projects through budgetary allocation and Public-Private-Partnership, but it will be majorly banking on Kenyans to pay their taxes.
“The government gets money from revenue collection so we must support revenue collection. There will be a little bit of pain but there is no gain without pain so we must be very positive about revenue collection and even the taxes that the government will be collecting,” said Ms Wang’ombe.
The duo was speaking at the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology during the dissemination of the Fourth Medium Term Plan 2023-2024(MTP IV). The forum brought together county government officials, National Government Administrative Officers and heads of departments from government Ministries, Departments and Agencies. Also in attendance were Correctional Services PS, Salome Muhia and her counterpart in the State Department for Energy, Alex Wachira. The forum was also attended by Nyeri Deputy Governor, Warui Kinaniri and Nyeri County Commissioner, Pius Murugu.
The objective of the forum was to sensitize stakeholders about the midterm term plan. In her remarks, CS Wahome noted that the stakeholders are expected to aid in the dissemination of the government’s plan at the grassroots level.
“We have four years to go with this plan and therefore we are here to ensure that the people who will take it down understand where the government is coming from and what we need to do to make sure we succeed,” she said.
The MTP IV is the last five-year medium term plan under the Kenya Vision 2030.The CS said that with its implementation, the country will now transition into the next long-term development blueprint. According to Ms Wahome, the MTP is also aligned with the BETA which is geared towards the economic turnaround through inclusivity.
Already the State Department for planning has outlined Finance and Production, Infrastructure, Natural Resources, Social and Governance and, Public administration as the core sectors of focus. Under the medium term plan, National Treasury is projecting a 7.2 per cent growth in the Gross Domestic Product by the year 2027.
The treasury has projected that the country’s infrastructure sector will record a 5.9 per cent growth by 2027.Their projections also show the Social sector which covers health and social welfare, will record a 7 per cent growth in the next four years.
Environment and Natural Resources sector is predicted to increase from 8.1 per cent to 8.9 per cent while Governance and Public Administration is forecasted to grow to 5.9 per cent by the year 2027.
According to their projections, out of the five key sectors, the Finance and Production sector record the most significant growth. The Treasury has projected that the subsector will grow from the current 7.3 per cent to 8.2 per cent by the year 2027.
The CS said that the government is keen on channeling more resources on local production of essential commodities as a way of curbing the country’s over reliance on imports and improving its food security. She noted that some of the critical sub sectors to be revived under the plan include leather, sisal and cotton while edible oil production, dairy, rice, blue economy, coffee and tea have been earmarked for revitalization.
“We are looking at new areas such as bringing back the leather industry and making sure edible oils are now locally grown and manufactured. So much money is going outside in the importation and all these things speak to losses of jobs, foreign exchange problems because we are using the dollar to bring these things here,” said Ms Wahome.
“If we manufacture locally we will clear the issue of jobs, we will create wealth and we will be paid in our currency so we don’t have to worry so much about the dollar exchange rate issues,” she added.
By Wangari Mwangi and George Gerish
