Wednesday, June 14, 2023
“The Finance Bill, 2023 wants to raise revenue through tax, but Kenyans are being crushed by the high cost of living,stagnant and limited income,” it stated. On specific proposals in the Bill, 94 percent of respondents indicated they completely do not support a plan to raiseValue Added Tax (VAT) on fuel products from 8 percent to 16 percent, as 2.2 percent said they slightly do not support the proposal. This was the proposal rejected by most Kenyans, among the respondents. Only 1.7 percent of the respondents indicated that they completely support the proposal. At least 92.4 percent of the respondents completely do not support the proposed 3 percent house levy (which was revised downwards to 1.5 percent by the National Assembly’s Finance committee), with only 3 percent of respondents indicating complete support. Also, 90 percent of the respondents completely do not support a proposal to raise the excise tax on mobile money transfer services from 12 per cent to 15 per cent, but 2.5 per cent said they completely support it. Eighty-one per cent of the respondents completely don’t support the planned raise of turnover tax to 3 percent, while 47.1 percent also said they completely don’t support a proposal to lower the Turnover Tax band from businesses with annual revenue of Sh1 million to Sh500,000, the survey stated. But interestingly, more than 38 percent of the respondents indicated support for the proposal to bring in small businesses (with daily revenues averaging Sh1,370) into the Turnover Tax band, where they will pay 3 per cent of revenues irrespective of whether they make profits, should the Bill pass. While not in the Finance Bill, 66 percent of the respondents also said they don’t support a plan to set a standard National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) contributions at 2.7 percent of salary, on grounds of corruption at the fund that has seen hospitals continue to offer poor services despite citizens’ contributions to the Fund.
90 percent of Kenyans reject Finance Bill 2023
“The Finance Bill, 2023 wants to raise revenue through tax, but Kenyans are being crushed by the high cost of living, stagnant and limited income,” it stated.
On specific proposals in the Bill, 94 percent of respondents indicated they completely do not support a plan to raise Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel products from 8 percent to 16 percent, as 2.2 percent said they slightly do not support the proposal.
This was the proposal rejected by most Kenyans, among the respondents. Only 1.7 percent of the respondents indicated that they completely support the proposal. At least 92.4 percent of the respondents completely do not support the proposed 3 percent house levy (which was revised downwards to 1.5 percent by the National Assembly’s Finance committee), with only 3 percent of respondents indicating complete support.
Also, 90 percent of the respondents completely do not support a proposal to raise the excise tax on mobile money transfer services from 12 percent to 15 percent, but 2.5 percent said they completely support it.
Eighty-one percent of the respondents completely don’t support the planned raise of turnover tax to 3 percent, while 47.1 percent also said they completely don’t support a proposal to lower the Turnover Tax band from businesses with annual revenue of Sh1 million to Sh500,000, the survey stated.
But interestingly, more than 38 percent of the respondents indicated support for the proposal to bring in small businesses (with daily revenues averaging Sh1,370) into the Turnover Tax band, where they will pay 3 percent of revenues irrespective of whether they make profits, should the Bill pass.
While not in the Finance Bill, 66 percent of the respondents also said they don’t support a plan to set a standard National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) contributions at 2.7 percent of salary, on grounds of corruption at the fund that has seen hospitals continue to offer poor services despite citizens contributions to the Fund.
Friday, May 26, 2023
How an LGBTQ court ruling sent Kenya into a moral panic
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/15/how-an-lgbtq-court-ruling-sent-kenya-into-a-moral-panic
The legal pushback against Kenya’s anti-LGBTQ colonial-era laws has unleashed vicious homophobia in the public space.
Kenya is in the throes of a full-blown
existential moral panic. If the country’s politicians, clergy, self-anointed
defenders of “traditional culture” and media are to be believed, the
long-dreaded gay zombie apocalypse is upon us, bringing hordes of insatiable
homosexuals hungry for our children’s impressionable brains.
A February ruling by the Supreme Court that the constitution
barred discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has sparked weeks of
hysterical breast-beating across the country, with many fearful that it could
open Pandora’s closet and precipitate the end of civilisation as we know it.
A February ruling by the Supreme Court
that the constitution barred discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation
has sparked weeks of hysterical breast-beating across the country, with many
fearful that it could open Pandora’s closet and precipitate the end of
civilisation as we know it.
Egged on by news anchors and editors keen to serve up drama and
gore in an effort to retain audiences, everyone from President William Ruto to
political pundits has been lining up to condemn the court for upholding
verdicts by lower courts that the government could not lawfully refuse to
register an organisation calling itself the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights
Commission (NGLHRC).
The jeremiads dominating the airwaves and social media proclaim
this as the beginning of the end.
In an interview with one of the
most-watched local TV stations, Citizen TV, Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit of the
Anglican Church of Kenya speculated – to approving noises from the anchors –
that this was a sinister ploy by environmentalists to depopulate the globe in
an effort to address climate change. The Ministry of Education has also
announced that it is deploying chaplains to schools to prevent
“infiltration” by the nefarious Western-backed LGBTQ brigade.
Meanwhile, during a parliamentary session, MP Joshua
Kimilu condemned the decision of the court as violating Kenyan law
and warned that Kenyan culture can “be ruined by the West”.
At the heart of the national hatefest
is the increasing visibility and assertiveness of the country’s sexual
minorities. Long suppressed by colonial-era edicts that criminalised sex
“against the order of nature” and Western ideas about “African culture” that engendered vicious
homophobia, in recent decades, queer Kenyans have been pushing back, refusing
to be forced back into the national closet.
This has included a push to have the British-imposed local
versions of the 19th-century Indian Penal Code outlawing sexual acts “against
the order of nature” – colonial code for homosexuality – struck out as contrary
to Kenya’s 2010 constitution, the country’s first supreme law to be wholly
drafted, negotiated and adopted by Kenyans.
The registration of the NGLHRC was one
of two cases concerning LGBTQ rights that have been making their way through
the courts. The reaction to the February ruling may actually be an effort to
influence the second case, which more directly challenges the constitutionality
of the sections of the penal code banning sex “against the order of nature”.
It is important to note, as upheld by both the High Court and the
Supreme Court, and contrary to the assertions of some, that the arcane text of
these laws does not actually criminalise homosexuality or homosexual
relationships or even homosexual orientation.
Rather it sanctions
certain undisclosed sexual acts deemed to be “against the order of nature”
regardless of the sexual orientation of the person committing them. Under the
same laws, for example, heterosexual couples could be conceivably prosecuted
for practising oral or anal sex. However, the laws are almost exclusively used
to target gay people.
In May 2019, a high court upheld the laws in
a convoluted judgement in which judges equated sex to marriage. They insisted
that the constitution’s definition of marriage as a union between people of the
opposite sex required the criminalisation of same-sex relationships while
arguing that the laws did not specifically target LGBTQ people but people in
general and therefore are not discriminatory.
The
case is at the Court of Appeal, and all indications are that it will end up at
the Supreme Court. Thus, the reaction to the NGLHRC verdict can be seen as an
attempt to intimidate the judges, to pressure them into maintaining the status
quo.
Interestingly,
the February ruling by the Supreme Court only echoes what the country’s
attorney general argued openly in court in 2017. While defending the
constitutionality of the colonial sex laws, he nonetheless admitted that the
“Constitution protects individuals against all forms of discrimination,
including on the basis of sexual orientation”.
So what comes next? Even prior to the ruling, MP Peter Kaluma had
declared his intention to introduce a law explicitly criminalising
homosexuality with penalties, including life imprisonment. He remains
undeterred by the court’s upholding of the constitution’s prohibition on
discrimination.
Like
the young Roper in Robert Bolt’s two-act play, A Man For All Seasons, it seems
the Kenyan elite are happy to “cut a great road through the law to get after
the [gay] Devil”. Churches are already proposing that Parliament enact
laws further limiting Kenyans’ freedom of association, singling out groups that
promote illegal practices.
Clearly,
the churchmen are happy to drag the country back to the days when Kenya’s
government could criminalise stuff like dissent and then lock up people who
dared to come together to challenge it. They would do well to consider the
question Thomas More asked Roper: “This country’s planted thick with laws from
coast to coast – man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down – and you’re
just the man to do it – do you really think you could stand upright in the
winds that would blow then?”
The irony of using colonial laws to defend “African culture”
against the spectre of corruption by whites is evidently lost on the anti-gay
brigade, who mistakenly insist that LGBTQ rights are a uniquely Western
invention. Yet manufactured panics about European threats to African sexuality
are nothing new – they were invented by the whites themselves.
In
her PhD thesis, gender studies scholar Elizabeth Williams argues that “in
order to maintain their political dominance in the colony, Kenyan settlers
needed to find a way to present white supremacy as a boon to African welfare.
The solution to this problem lay in the production of a vision of African
sexuality that needed to be protected from contamination by more deviant
settler populations.”
That vision of African sexuality was born of Victorian imaginings
of noble savagery. “The average native is simply an unmoral creature, and as a
general rule, he becomes immoral only after contact with certain forms of
civilization, either Eastern or Western,” one settler wrote in 1920.
Today’s
African elites, who inherited the colonial kingdom, are replicating the same
naked assertion of power. They too declare themselves, and their thievery and
brutality, as justified by the need to protect “African” mores from Western decadence.
Still,
while it may be tempting to dismiss these as the rantings of ignorant and
power-hungry bigots, which they are, we must not forget that they have
real-life consequences.
They
provide justification for the oppression of thousands of Kenyans who find
themselves the victims of violence, rape and imprisonment at the hands of the
state and local communities. Between 2013 and 2017, more than 500 people were
prosecuted under colonial laws and artistic works have
been banned for showing homosexual relationships.
We
must also keep in mind that by undermining the protections in the constitution,
the self-appointed defenders of “African culture” are endangering all of us,
regardless of sexual orientation.
Thursday, May 25, 2023
THE CULTURE OF IMPUNITY IN KENYA MUST STOP!!
In public policy, there is a concept called broken-window theory. In a street for instance, if there are street lights broken by hooligans and not repaired within a certain duration, it sends signals to the other rational citizens that rule enforcement is weak. This is the true picture of our Kenyan society today. We have laws, but they are simply ignored. Every day of the week, we watch as PSVs and even respected school buses overlap other cars, some mount pavements to get a few meters ahead in the traffic, and some speed recklessly when the road opens up. All these happen, sometimes in the full view of our traffic police officers. But that’s not my issue; my concern is on we, the people being transported. We are knowledgeable Kenyans; we know what is right and what an offence is. But we are quiet when traffic rules are being flouted. We believe we have to break rules to get to our destinations much faster. That there is no reward in being patient with one another. In fact, as passengers, we take sides with the PSV driver whenever they are pushing other cars to the edge. We praise such drivers, for they make our journey shorter, by disobeying traffic rules. Respect for traffic rules seems to have disappeared long time ago. Overlapping used to be a minor occurrence; it is now a major problem, simply because no one has put an end to it. So most PSVs keep overlapping, and even more other motorists join them. Others get into the lane meant for oncoming traffic, and no one, none of the passengers dare rebuke these rogue drivers. The results are so clear to us; unnecessary traffic gridlocks, a lot of time and money lost in traffic and worse still, accidents are reported causing loss of lives and property. Reason being that rules are simply ignored!
If you thought only traffic rules are flouted, you are wrong. Our politicians and civil servants are breaking procurement rules and procedures. Government policies are no longer considered when making decisions. That’s why there is rampant corruption. All they are telling us is that you cannot live a comfortable life with the money you legitimately earn as salary. That the clever thing you can do is get a big tender where you can squander some cash. Single-source a supplier, get a deal crafted and share the money. That once you are in charge of a ministry, you can always divert some money meant to build a road to benefit many Kenyans, to your personal pocket. And if rules make it impossible to steal from Kenyans, these politicians can do anything to even change them. Those who abide by the rules are threatened, and they somehow bow to the pressure. Again the results are here with us Kenyans; poor infrastructure, poor living standards and lack of economic development. But why is it so hard for our leaders to follow rules? Why is legality and morality forgotten terms in Kenya?
Hang on, it is not just politicians and drivers who disobey laws, come to our schools and the education sector as a whole. Every time we receive results from KNEC, a list is shared of students whose exam results have been cancelled. Students, all the way from primary schools, have been taught that being number two is a crime. That one must be the first, even if it means cheating during the examination. Our teachers are no longer interested in ensuring students understand the subjects, all they want is for the students to pass the exams. So what do they do? They simply collude with those who have access to the examination papers. Money is exchanged, and students pass with flying colors. That is a culture the students are already cultivating. That to get to your destiny, use shortcuts. Break rules, as long as you make it. Cheat and steal if possible, you won’t be caught anyway! And if you are caught, blame it on the process. And where are the parents when all this is happening? Quietly watching and praying that their sons and daughters get straight A’s. In other words, our education system is simply reinforcing the idea that you simply have to do whatever it takes to get ahead in today’s Kenya.
These are just but three cases where our morals and rules are arrogantly disobeyed. My biggest worry is the example we are setting to the future generations. What exactly are we telling our children? That one must cheat and break the rules in order to get ahead in life? That there is nothing to be gained by waiting for your turn on the road? That only fools follow the path of lawfulness and orderliness? That our morals are no more? We are treading on a dangerous ground as a nation if we do not abide by the laws we have set. Mention all the challenges we are facing currently as a nation, be it corruption, insecurity, accidents, and I will show you how the collapse of our laws and morality has caused the same. Honest and hard-working citizens of this nation are pushed aside, not heard at all, for they decide to follow rules. Even those who have set the rules regard them as inconvenient and irrelevant.
Our leaders, beginning with our President need to ensure laws and rules are adhered to the latter. But they can only enforce the laws if they too abide by the rules themselves. Secondly, those who break the laws must be dealt with mercilessly, so that potential law-breakers are deterred. Let us not negotiate with people who break laws. Law-breakers should not be told to “step-aside”. They should be sacked. Our leaders must get support from all quarters of the Kenyan citizenry. As writers, parents, teachers, clerics, celebrities, elders, poets, artists of Kenya, we ought to stand up for the laws. We need to be vocal and stop the few law-breakers from thriving. We need to be custodians of our own laws. Every law that is broken impacts on others, negatively. We can’t afford to sit back and watch our nation turn into a jungle. We must abide by the laws if we intend to realize any meaningful development as a nation.
THE JUDICIARY IS AIDING & ABETTING EXECUTIVE IMPUNITY IN KENYA!
Dear Kenyans,
The Judiciary under the leadership of Chief Justice Martha Koome has today appalled us and made a mockery of its constitutional role by presiding over the 7.00am swearing in of 50 illegal Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS) despite an active case. The case, challenging the appointments of CAS, was due for a
mention today at 9.00am.
The Judiciary has had numerous opportunities to stop these illegal appointments but failed to act. Instead, the Judiciary by this stroke, is responsible for aiding and abetting impunity. This action undermines the rule of law, and increases the public wage bill, even as Kenyans reel under an economic crisis.
When Eliud Matindi and others challenged the CAS appointments, the courts denied them conservatory orders to protect the Constitution. Instead, the court fixed the case for mention (not hearing) today at 9:00am. Yet by sunrise, the same Judiciary had sent a top official to swear in the 50 illegal CAS at StateHouse. These actions by the Judiciary are akin to a wild goose chase!
Kenyans know that conservatory orders preserve and protect the Constitution while a case is pending. By refusing to issue conservatory orders and giving dates so far into the future, the Kenyan Judiciary is facilitating Executive impunity. Amidst signs of an imperial presidency, the Kenyan Judiciary has abandoned its
job of protecting Kenyans from impunity and violation of the Constitution of Kenya. We stand against the rising judicial Utado! and demand that the Judiciary stops serving Kenyans hot air!
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