Raila Odinga, the head of Azimio La Umoja, blasted President William Ruto on Sunday for his campaign against tax cheats.
Ruto, who claims that the discussion surrounding tax evasion is unrelated to politics, has accused prominent members of prior administrations of evading paying taxes.
The initiative has been interpreted as President Ruto’s retaliation against his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta, who, along with the late Daniel Moi, Kenya’s second president, is free from paying tax under the Estate Duty Act.
But according to Odinga, before doing so, Ruto needs to remove the “criminals” and tax evaders who he claims have overrun the government.
Using the recent multi-billion shilling corruption charges against President Ruto’s allies that have been dropped in recent days as evidence, Odinga accused the head of state of using double standards in the fight against tax evasion and corruption in a passionate speech titled “The Kibra declaration.”
Odinga claimed that Ruto’s administration, which he ran for on the promise of standing up for the common Kenyans known as “Hustlers,” has instead proven to be a billionaires’ government “that has no room for the poor.”
He dismissed Ruto’s aggressive tax collection drive as “pickpocketing the poor to feed the rich buddies” and decried it as ineffective.
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