Nominated Member of Parliament John Mbadi has remarked that President William Ruto is now breaking pledges made to Kenyans about decreasing spending from what was spent during the era of Uhuru Kenyatta.
According to Mbadi, President Ruto's promise to reduce Kenyatta's budget by approximately Ksh.300 billion has fallen through, and the budget has been boosted by approximately Ksh.410 billion instead.
"When President Ruto took office, one of the first things he said on the day he was sworn in was that he was going to cut Uhuru's budgets by Ksh.300 billion." He not only managed to lower it but also boosted it from Uhuru's budget by Ksh.410 billion," he said.
On Thursday, MP Mbadi appeared on Citizen TV's Daybreak Show.
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He also chastised the government for its 2023-24 budget forecast, which has seen a Ksh.1 Trillion increase from the 2022/23 budget, claiming that the government has misdirected its projections on revenue collection channels.
The government's strategy to increase income through punitive taxation, according to Mbadi, would fail, and alternative alternatives should be considered.
"The government has increased spending and believes that overtaxing Kenyans is the best way to finance that increase," he said.
"And I dare to say that your revenue projections are completely out of line." "There is no way you will collect another Ksh.698 billion in this country," he added.
"You are projecting to collect over Ksh.300 billion more in income tax alone; this is not going to be possible, and no matter how hard you try to squeeze Kenyans, to raid our pockets, you will not succeed."
On Wednesday, the National Treasury presented a Ksh.4.5 trillion budget to parliament, a significant increase over the previous fiscal year's Ksh.3.324 trillion.
The exchequer has set aside Ksh.718.9 billion for development, Ksh.850 billion for consolidated fund services, and Ksh.775.1 billion for debt interest.
The national government would receive Ksh 2.3 trillion from the budget, followed by county governments receiving Ksh 385.4 billion and the parliament receiving Ksh 41 billion.
The Judiciary will be given Ksh.23 billion to manage the courts, while the State House will be given Ksh.7.3 billion.
To fund the budget, the National Treasury anticipates the taxman to collect Ksh—2,57 trillion, with the treasury aiming to cover the deficit through borrowing.
