Azimio Decision To Boycott Ruto’s Maiden Budget Was Ill-advised, In Bad Faith
President William Ruto National Prayer Breakfast Meeting
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- Though they would cast an image of holier-than-thou and wanted Kenyans to believe that they were championing their interest, this has not been the case.
- Politics of back stabbing, character assassination and of sabotaging and derailing the efforts by the government from fulfilling its promises were at the core of their anti-Ruto campaigns.
- Why would Azimio do this? It is simply because Dr Ruto defeated them at the ballot.
- For how long will they continue to hold this grudge?
- President Ruto is not going anywhere. He was elected by the people of Kenya to serve for a period of five years.
Payment of taxes is a legal requirement and an act of patriotism. Every working citizen in both Government and private sector is required to comply with laws on full compliance.
The notion that that in self-employment particularly those at the bottom of the pyramid are exempted is neither here nor there.
The tax is based on your earning. The more you earn, the more you pay.
Given this scenerio, the narrative of Azimio La Umoja-OKA party leader Raila Odinga was ill-advised and made in bad faith.
At one time, I heard him likening President William Ruto to Zakayo who was a tax collector.
The Bible says that Zakayo was a short rich man and had made his fortunes through collection of taxes in Churches and Synagogue.
He climbed on a tree when he heard that Jesus was passing there. The Jesus heard his voice and turned to him.
Jesus forgave him after he confessed his sins and pleaded for forgiveness.
I have three reasons why Raila’s analogy did not hold any water.
First, Zakayo was collecting money while inside the altar of the house of God.
President Ruto is a God fearing man and he has been living up to this calling.
When he attends Church service, he would always humble himself before God. He would take this opportunity to praise the Lord and present his needs to Him by way of prayers.
So, he won’t go there with a whip and force the worshipers to pay taxes. This is what Zakayo used to do.
Secondly, the Bible says that we should give Caesar what belongs to him.
Thirdly, we know that God recognizes the government and He compels us to obey and respect the President He has anointed.
For Azimio brigade, one does not need to be rocket scientist to know why they were opposing everything that President Ruto and his administration was doing.
Though they would cast an image of holier-than-thou and wanted Kenyans to believe that they were championing their interest, this has not been the case.
Politics of back stabbing, character assassination and of sabotaging and derailing the efforts by the government from fulfilling its promises were at the core of their anti-Ruto campaigns.
Why would Azimio do this? It is simply because Dr Ruto defeated them at the ballot.
For how long will they continue to hold this grudge?
President Ruto is not going anywhere. He was elected by the people of Kenya to serve for a period of five years.
So, they should hold their horses and wait to face Dr Ruto in 2027 polls.
The other day the President was in Nakuru.
He said that his priority right now is addressing a raft of challenges facing Kenyans but not 2027 elections.
He cited unemployment and high cost of living. These are the same problems that confronted the previous administrations.
We also know he assumed power at a time when the country was confronted by four other challenges: Drought and famine (rated as the worst in 40 years), hefty maturing foreign debts, Russian-Ukraine war and at a time when the country was recovering from Covid-19 pandemic.
In Nakuru, Dr Ruto stated that he was committed to come up with tangible solutions.
My success would mean that I will have smooth sailing back to power. You will re-elect me because of my sterling performance. My track record will be there for all to see.
With this, I doubt Azimio will stand any chance of defeating him.
To me, Raila was making a lot blunders and this explains why his popularity has been tumbling down.
The latest blunder is that of instructing his troops to boycott the presentation of President Ruto’s maiden budget by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Professor Njuguna Ndungu.
This could have happened because of two reasons. One, failure by his team of economic and political advisors to advise him accordingly.
Two, maybe because he opted to ignore them.
This was the truth of matter. Majority of Kenyans supported the proposed taxes.
For them, Dr Ruto inherited a dilapidated economy.
They believed Raila had contributed to this mess in a big way because he was a principal partner in the ‘handshake’ government.
As such, he had no justification to turn around and fault the measures that Dr Ruto’s administration had been putting in place to rebuild the economy.
The government does not have money of its own. It relies on revenues raised through the taxation.
The other reason why millions of jobless ‘hustler’ supported this budget is because the salaried workers were the main target.
In my estate of Githurai (44), I heard some ‘hustlers’ saying. Let the rich contribute the money to build these houses. The money is being used for a worthy cause; affordable houses for us, the hustlers.
We know Raila has been banking on ‘hustlers’ whenever he calls for demonstrations. Does he expect them to now turn up? The answer is a big No.
Some of his troops heeded his order. They staged a walkout of the chamber immediately after Professor Ndungu rose up to present the budget for 2023/2024 financial year.
This is the biggest budget ever totalling Sh3.6 trillion.
Azimio’s MPs move did not make any difference. Majority of the members remained in the chamber and CS presented the estimates without any interruptions.
If Azimio means well for Kenyans, I would have expected the party to change tack and support this budget.
Once it is passed, then they should shift gear and focus on playing a watchdog role of ensuring the funds are not stolen, misappropriated.
The funds are instead used prudently for purposes of which the monies were allocated.
If Azimio did this, it could gain more political mileage.
This is time; Kenyans do not want to hear the stories of servers’ vis-vis stolen election.
They want to see those they entrusted with leadership fulfilling the promises they made to them.
The opposition leaders should support them when they do the right thing.
When they do a wrong thing, the outfit should correct them and do this in a structured and constructive manner. This is the hallmark of a mature and functioning democracy.
As I conclude, I want to ask Raila. If you could have won the elections, how did you expect to raise money to run your government? No short-cut, no miracle.
You could have resorted to taxing the citizens, maybe even more. This is the same thing that Dr Ruto is doing.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi
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