Revenge: KOT threatens to boycott businesses owned by politicians over punitive taxes

President William Ruto makes his speech during a previous national event. [File, Standard]

Kenyans on X, formerly Twitter are now threatening to rally the public to boycott businesses owned by politicians over punitive taxes.

A number of the platform users have taken to the social media site to call on Kenyans to boycott the known businesses run by the politicians.

"I have seen a list of Kenyan MPs and their contact details. Can we please crowdsource details on businesses they own so we can boycott their businesses? If they hit us where it hurts by voting yes, we can hit them where it hurts," A user on X by the name Shoba Gatimu stated.

The post has since gone viral with the majority of users supporting and even listing a few businesses associated with various politicians.

"Brilliant ideas. Boycott their private schools, malls hotels etc," stated Anyuola4.

On his part, Mwangi Elijah stated that the idea is the best way to make the politicians understand what the common mwananchi is pressing for.

"This is a brilliant idea. We gather the data, then come up with a custom GPT populated with all that data such that anyone with access to the internet can access these details," suggested Isaac Wacira.

According to a Google document doing rounds, a section of the social media users shared the names of the targeted politicians, business names and locations.

This comes a day after netizens across social media platforms in a concerted effort, launched an online campaign against the Finance Bill 2024 as the final reading nears.

The netizens under the hashtag ‘RespectMyHustle’ shared the contact details of their respective MPs in a bid to dissuade them from supporting the Finance Bill 2024 scheduled for passage.

"60 per cent of your income goes to the taxman. Whom are you working for? You are working for the state. You are a slave. Refuse to be a slave. Pick up your phone now, and call your member of Parliament. Tell him to reject The Finance Bill. Add here their numbers," an influential X user Amerix tweeted.

Various MPs confirmed receiving numerous calls and texts from their constituents urging them to oppose the Finance Bill 2024.

Kenyans on all fronts have continued to call for a review of the government revenue and expenditure plans for the 2024/2025 fiscal year which was read on June 13.

Many have poked holes into the Finance Bill 2024 which outlines how revenue will be collected, while expressing dissatisfaction with the Appropriations Bill which shows how the revenue will be spent.

 According to the National Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee led by Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, Kenya will spend an estimated Sh4 trillion with a budget that reduces allocation for key sectors such as education, health, agriculture, trade, transport and energy.

National Assembly Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning Chairperson Kuria Kimani says that the bill must eventually pass but views from Kenyans are paramount.

“The consequence of rejecting the bill in its entirety will put a constitutional halt to the budget process. That would leave the government without a budget by July 1, leading to a government shutdown,” said MP Kuria.

He added: “The bill doesn’t have to pass as it is. These are proposals that we are considering and we’ll make the best decisions for Kenya. We’ll either delete, amend or pass those contentious clauses.”