Francis Atwoli, the head of the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU), has vowed to keep President William Ruto on his toes in order to prevent him from misleading Kenyans.
Atwoli thanked Citizen TV’s News Gang crew for consistently reviewing government programs throughout their episodes hosted on Thursdays while speaking at an event in Kisumu County.
He mentioned that COTU would put together a crew to mimic the one that the renowned news anchor Yvonne Okwara had on her TV program.
The COTU team would also be responsible for producing audit reports on a regular basis on how Ruto’s administration was using tax revenue, Atwoli noted.
The unionist additionally asked other media outlets to work together and form accountability teams for the current administration.
As we see some men on Citizen TV dubbed News Gang doing, where journalists get down and discuss particular themes, “We need to have an inter-media auditing team of journalists to audit the government.”
“Under COTU, a committee will be established to audit the government, and it will produce periodic reports. It will be made public. Taxes must be used for their proper purpose; but, paying them is not a problem, he added.
In response to plans by Ruto’s administration to include the housing charge and other taxes in the Finance Bill 2023, Atwoli made the remarks.
He accepted that in order to provide services to the nation, the government needed to collect taxes. But he asserted that accountability is crucial.
Notably, despite COTU’s support, some labor union factions have rejected the proposed taxation in the Finance Bill 2023.
