After budget let MPs consider lot of 'mwanainchi'

A woman eats termites in Teso village, Busia County. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani may have on Thursday succeeded in painting a picture that the Sh3.32 trillion budget was for the ordinary citizen.

This he achieved by carefully selecting what to include in his Budget Speech at a time the rising cost of living is putting the livelihoods of millions of Kenyans at risk.

But the Finance Bill - the document which lays bare all the tax raising measures - shows that the Budget has done little to address the pain of the ordinary Kenyan.

The Budget is silent on any proposal to bring down the cost of living and has instead sought increased taxes on even basic items such as juice and water.

It has even proposed higher taxes on importing motorcycles, popular with the youth trying to escape unemployment, and kept silent on what to do with basic problems such as food.

While Mr Yatani has given the Kenya Revenue Authority the discretion to be exempting some items from the annual increase of prices to reflect inflation, the measure won’t take effect this year.

Such a crucial clause, which could have helped save mwananchi from further price hikes, will set in next year.

This means that KRA will this year push manufacturers and importers of excisable goods to adjust prices upwards in line with inflation at a time prices of goods such as milk, cooking gas, cooking oil and fuel are on the rise.

The hallmark of the pain is the removal of maize, wheat and cassava flour from zero-rated status, setting the stage for them to attract value added tax.

It cannot be a budget for the people when the document is almost silent on the very pressing problems of wananchi.

Members of Parliament should ensure that even though they are busy and loud on campaign trails seeking re-election, they have a responsibility to sit in the National Assembly and the Senate and help the ordinary citizen.

Mr Yatani said recently that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s successor has a chance to initiate a supplementary budget and tailor it to their agenda after the August polls. Granted.

But Members of Parliament have a chance to ensure the next financial year starts with the tax proposals that will soften the economic fallout facing households.

This should not be the time to abscond parliamentary sittings and recite mwananchi’s problems on political podiums.