Raila Odinga
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has urged the government to surrender 20% of the Mumias Sugar Company shares to the Kakamega County Government.
Speaking on Monday, October 31 during the burial of Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa’s mother, the Azimio leader stated that the decision will ease the company’s operations.
He claimed that this would enable locals to start growing sugarcane again.
“Government should surrender its 20% shareholding in Mumias Sugar Company to the County Government of Kakamega to ease the operations of the company and also enable locals to start growing sugarcane,” Raila stated.
Raila also used the same podium to assert that government tax regimes cannot be enforced without the people’s participation. he stated that the increments can only be imposed through Parliament.
“Tax regimes can not be imposed without the participation of the people through their representatives in Parliament,” the ODM leader said.
His remarks come days after President Ruto directed the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to collect Ksh 3 trillion in the next one year.
“Our GDP has risen to KSh 12 trillion, yet KRA only raised about 14% of it in revenues last year. In the past KRA was able to raise 18% of GDP. If we collect the same target today, then would have raised an extra KSh 400 billion. I expect KRA to raise 3 trillion by the end of the next financial year and to double the current collection in five years,” President Ruto said on Friday October 28.
The Head of State also directed every Kenyan above 18 years to have a KRA pin.
“There are only 7 million people with KRA pin numbers. At the same time, in the same economy, Safaricom’s MPESA has 30 million registered customers, transacting billions daily. The fact that this opportunity remains unclear to KRA demonstrates why radical changes are necessary. Every Kenyan with an ID should have a PIN number,” Ruto stated.
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