Raila: Why we could not stop Finance Act in Parliament

Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party leader Raila Odinga has now sought to explain why the opposition political outfit was unable to stop the Finance Act, 2023 from sailing through in Parliament.

The former premier claimed that the Executive crippled its numbers in the House by luring a section of the opposition's Members of Parliament to shift sides and support the then controversial Finance Bill, 2023.

Odinga accused the Kenya Kwanza administration of what he termed as undermining the spirit of multiparty democracy, underscoring the possibility of the Finance Act having been rejected had the said Azimio MPs not been enticed to switch camp.

“Some have argued that we should have stopped the proposals during the vote in Parliament. But we could not. One of the first steps this regime embarked on upon coming to office was to lure some of our MPs to its side to give itself an artificial majority. Those MPs teamed up with the Executive to defeat the wishes of the people,” Raila said in an address on Tuesday.

“If the regime did not lure our MPs to its side and if it stopped interfering in the affairs of our constituent parties, the unpopular Finance Act would have been rejected.”

The Finance Act, which configures the increment of a variety of taxes including the Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel from 8 to 16 per cent, was - according to Odinga - rejected by most Kenyans through opinion polls.

He further accused the President William Ruto regime of proceeding to enact the Bill into law, despite the massive rejection of the same by the general populace.

“In the run up to the vote on what is now the Finance Act, polls showed that more than 90 percent of Kenyans rejected it. Even after MPs voted in favour of the Act, polls still showed that majority of Kenyans did not like it. But the Executive proceeded and imposed punitive taxes,” Odinga said.

He further revealed that the implementation of what he describes as punitive taxes by the government prompted the Azimio to stage anti-government protests to fight the high cost of living, which in turn was faced with unwelcoming aggression and use of force by the police.

In his address to the International Press Association of East Africa (IPAEA), Odinga claimed that both the police and hired goons are trailing, arresting and shooting people using unmarked vehicles or vehicles registered in foreign number plates.

“People are being arrested in a most uncivil way. Many have been abducted commando style and held incommunicado way past the stipulated period of 24 hours within which they must be presented in court,” he said.

“Both police and hired goons are trailing, arresting and shooting people from unmarked vehicles and those with foreign number plates raising the question whether these are police or thugs.”

The Finance Act was recently suspended by the High Court after a petition filed by Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah on the implementation of some sections contained in it. The Court of Appeal upheld the suspension.