Jimi Wanjigi, a candidate for the presidency in 2022, offered his opinion on President William Ruto’s contentious Finance Bill 2023.
Wanjigi voiced his concerns about the Finance Bill 2023 in an interview, claiming it was detrimental to the nation.
The politician-businessman claims that the bill will burden already-burdened residents even more. He mentioned how Ruto’s economic recovery strategy would be impacted by the measure if it were to pass.
Along with finding flaws in the legislation, Wanjigi said that his administration’s revenue collection was poor and that the exchange rate was falling.
Wanjigi also cited the bond market and the stock market, both of which he claimed to have experienced investor exodus as well as other symptoms of market turbulence.
Wanjigi added that Moody’s rating had an impact on Ruto’s administration.
This came about after Kenya’s long-term foreign currency and local currency issuer ratings were lowered from B2 to B3 by the international rating agency located in New York, USA.
Disaster has arrived! It won’t be arriving. We’re just refusing to acknowledge that it’s there, but it is. We have never been in a situation like this before, Wanjigi said.
Wanjigi pleaded on President Ruto to follow some of the former President Mwai Kibaki’s policies in order to address some of the issues and free Kenyans from the burden of taxes.
Wanjigi encouraged Ruto to increase the tax bracket by enabling a number of businesses—both domestic and foreign—to set up shop in the nation in order to increase the revenue collection bracket.
Wanjigi advised Ruto to renegotiate debts while raising the tax bracket. He said that debt forgiveness would enable Ruto’s administration to direct the money toward economic growth.
“I heard the President say that we won’t default as though it were a horrible thing. It is, but given that all we are doing here is digging a hole, it might be our only choice. And now, under that default, you renegotiate fresh terms,” he urged Ruto.
