Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance Leader Raila Odinga now wants President William Ruto to withdraw the Finance Bill 2023 and seek an apology from Kenyans.
Speaking on Thursday, June 8 at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Foundation, Raila said the proposed bill has caused anxiety among Kenyans and thus President Ruto should seek forgiveness.
“We ask Ruto to humble himself, withdraw this bill, offer an apology, and seek forgiveness from Kenyans for the anxiety caused and begin afresh,” said Raila.
The former Premier at the same time asked the President to stop duplicating county roles and responsibilities, arguing that the Ministry of Health was consuming a huge chunk of revenue, yet health is a devolved function.
“In the proposed bill, the budget for health is going for 35 billion shillings yet health is a devolved function,” he stated.
The opposition chief urged the Kenya Kwanza government to adopt a zero-based budgeting formula without reference to the previous budget.
“Ruto should adopt a zero-based budgeting and not take the previous budget as his baseline,” said Raila.
The ODM leader asked the Head of State to cut down the size of the budget and seal all loopholes that lead to the loss of revenue rather than increasing taxes.
He further asked Ruto to stop non-essential government expenditures, reduce the size of government, and cut non-essential domestic and international travel.
Additionally, Raila advocated for the abolishing of ministerial out-of-station allowances, ministerial house allowances, and domestic allowances for Cabinet and Principal Secretaries.
“Freeze ministerial out-of-station, house, and domestic allowances for Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries,” Raila added.
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