By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Members of Kenyan opposition coalition Azimio la Umoja on Thursday staged a walk out on the floor of the National Assembly during the presentation of the 2023/24 budget by the Treasury Cabinet Secretary.
The budget, which is the first of President William Ruto’s administration elected August and assumed office September last year, seeks to hike taxes to shore up public finances.
The opposition lawmakers left the parliamentary floor when the Treasury Minister, Njuguna Ndung’u stood up to read his budget statement.
Ruto during the campaigns pledged to help the country’s poorest citizens. He has however been accused of introducing policies that have actually tightened the grip of poverty on the people.
His government had prepared a 3.6-trillion shilling ($25.7 billion) budget for 2023/24 with new or increased taxes outlined in a separate finance bill expected to generate $2.1 billion in revenue.
Ruto is seeking to shore up revenue and fix the economy already heavily indebted.
“We have to have some short-term sacrifices for us to achieve the long-term. We have to sacrifice for the future,” Treasury Minister Njuguna Ndung’u told local station Citizen TV on Thursday before he submited the budget to parliament.
Ruto has said that the finance bill, which sailed through a second reading in parliament on Wednesday, will ease the debt burden, stimulate the economy and create jobs in the East African nation.
But opponents have warned the new measures will further hit people already struggling to make ends meet as the cost of living crisis bites.
Several demonstrators have been arrested following street protests that greeted the new finance bill which Kenyans say will also increase the cost rent.
