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Ruto Budget To Crash Kenyans in the Pocket and on The Food Table

15 mins read
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William Ruto and Kenya Kwanza Dance Party is Now Done

William Ruto and his KK mob has been dancing and singing for days now after bulldozing his first taxes on Kenyans and they increased tax on just about everything, but more prominently, on fuel which is the engine of any engine. That dance party is going to be over in a hurry as Kenyans face the economic and life realities of the new Ruto regime.

According to media reports, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) will on Friday, June 30, 2023, announce new fuel prices.

The new prices are as a result of the new Value-Added Tax on petroleum products, which will now be at 16 percent, following the passing of the Finance Act, 2023.

“On 26th June 2023, H.E. the President Dr William Ruto signed into law the Finance Bill, 2023 introducing a 16 percent VAT on petroleum products. Accordingly, EPRA will tomorrow 30th June 2023 release the reviewed petroleum prices in compliance with the finance bill 2023,” EPRA said in a notice.

Previously, Petroleum products were subjected to 8 percent VAT.

This comes about two weeks after EPRA announced new fuel prices for the month of June-July. The price change was to run from June 15 to July 14, 2023.

On June 14, the Authority announced that the price of super petrol had decreased by Sh0.66 to retail at Sh182.04, while diesel had been reduced by Sh1.12 to retail at 167.28 in Nairobi. 

However, the price of kerosene was increased by Sh0.35 to retail at Sh161.48.

With the new VAT rate taking effect, the price of super petrol is likely to retail at Sh196.60 in Nairobi, diesel at Sh180.66, and Kerosene at Sh174.39.

In Mombasa, super petrol will likely retail at Sh193.54, diesel at Sh177.61, and kerosene at Sh171.34.

Mandera will be the most hit with the new prices, where super petrol will likely retail at Sh210.69, diesel at Sh194.75, and kerosene at Sh188.48.

And the next Saba Saba could be just around the corner as the fuel prices hit everybody.

The last Saba Saba which started on July 7, 1990, was the beginning of the end of the Moi one-party rule and by 1992 Moi was forced to declare Kenya as a multi-party state and that was the beginning of Kenyans’ journey to bury the vile dictatorship in our land under Moi and his thugs.

When the Saba Saba rebellion started against his government, Moi was laughing his head off. He had been in power for 14 years by then and was running a corrupt industry like never seen before. Wherever he went in Kenya to hold his weekly rallies people including many political leaders were dancing and singing for him.

Moi by that time in 1992 had jailed and detained every opposition political figure. The Oginga Odingas the Kenneth Matibas, the George Anyonas and so many others as far Moi knew had been crashed. That is what jail is supposed to do to you. The stupid students and their lecturers were either in jail, in detention, in exile, or dead like the late Comrade Karimi Nduthu. Moi and his government had no more problems as far as they were concerned.

Moi had even started some bogus land reclamation projects to rehabilitate Kenyan forests and politicians were expected to be there with him every week throwing some rocks into rivers pretending to be protecting the earth. In fact, Moi must have been the first leader on earth to work on stopping climate change. It was all a spectacle but the Moi government just like the one Ruto is starting today is based on spectacles to look busy while doing nothing.

At this time in 1992 Moi had asked William Ruto to set up the first terrorist organization in Kenya known as Youth Kanu (YK) 92 which was murdering Kenyan activists and politicians who were opposed to Moi and fighting for multi-party democracy in Kenya. The Ruto gangsters (YK92) were also responsible for collecting millions of Kenyan taxpayer money from the CBK in gunias on a daily basis.

That was Ruto’s first Hustler Project which involved grabbing taxpayer money from the CBK to be given to hustlers for Bottoms-Up development. Look at how much YK 92 Hustler project of Moi and Ruto achieved and you may have an idea where Kenya will be in a few years from now. Not even in Heaven. Kenya will be above heaven. Bwana Asifiwe.

According to Moi and his mob, in 1992, there was no way and chance that just some riff raff activists would bring down King Moi and his terrorists. Today the Ruto boys have been on a full week dance clapping for their boss after Ruto’s budget got smuggled through parliament.

As Kenyans get ready to see prices of fuel go up by 8% and prices of manufactured food products go up 12% or above because fuel has multiple impact on the prices of manufactured products, William Ruto was at his farm in Trans Mara showing off his maize plantations which is most like in public land Ruto has grabbed from Kenyans.

People like William Ruto need to understand one thing. When the food revolution comes and Kenyans get fed up with starving while their leaders dance in their food plantations, Kenyans are going to come to those farms to harvest the maize. Some will be at Sugoi farm milking Ruto’s cows and harvesting chicken eggs and some chicken for food for themselves from Ruto’s humongous farms there.

That is what happened in Sri Lanka one year ago when the citizens got mad with prices going through the rough, the country getting bankrupt while their leaders lived like Kings in their palaces.

Here are Sri Lankans after they took over the palace of their president Rajapaska who was forced to run and hide from Sri Lankans in 2022. The folks decided to take a swim in his big pools surrounded with luxury.

When people reach that state of frustration with their government as just happened in Sri Lanka they don’t care how much weapons and soldiers the government has under their control. Ruto should have a talk with the deposed Sri Lanka government leaders and go easy on his victory fake dances.

This is exactly where Kenya may be headed and it is a very dangerous place to be.

Azimio movement is now ready for the next phase of Kenyans fighting for their lives under a Ruto regime which has made it clear to them that he will do whatever he wants as long as he collects billions of tax money from Kenyans from their fuel and food purchases.

At the end of this rally in Nairobi Azimio made their demands to the Ruto regime.

RESOLUTIONS OF KAMUKUNJI PEOPLE’S BARAZA ON FINANCE ACT, 2023; JUNE 27, 2023.

  1. No more talks. Having imposed on us the punitive taxation measures
    contained in the Finance Act 2023 in complete disregard of our views, we
    declare an end to the bipartisan talks to which we had sent our delegation
    in the hope that Kenya Kwanza could show interest in resolving pro-
    people issues including the rising cost of living. It is time for action.
  2. From today, we embark on a campaign of defiance and civil disobedience
    which will take different forms at different time, including refusal to pay
    taxes and whose aim is to force Mr. William Ruto to respect the people
    and repeal the Finance Act 2023.
  3. We will embark on a mass signature collection to signal the withdrawal
    of our sovereignty from officials of this regime, including Mr. William
    Ruto and all elected leaders who supported the Finance Act 2023.
  4. We recognize and appreciate the efforts that members of the civil society
    are making to free Kenya from the despotic Kenya Kwanza
    administration and will pursue collaboration and joining of forces for the
    sake of the nation.
  5. We condemn Ruto and his regime’s lack of respect for the media which is
    consistent with every dictator’s lack of regard for the rule of law,
    constitutional order and independent opinion.
  6. We shall convene on 7th July-Saba Saba Day- 2023, here at Kamukunji at
    which event we will unveil a program for nation-wide civil disobedience
    to force the Kenya Kwanza regime to respect the people and repeal the
    Finance Act.

The bad news for the Ruto regime is that Kenyans are coming back to the streets for mass action against taxes and the cost of living. Ruto may be worrying about Raila Amolo Odinga for a few days. However, his biggest problem is going to be how to deal with very angry Kenyans who are going to come out to demand a better life and country for all of them.

Dealing with Raila is supposed to be easy. Lock him up.

And by the way, the Ruto regime just announced they are hiring 24, 000 teachers by the TSC next month in July 2023.

The sad reality is that the same number of teachers were hired by the TSC in January this year and not a single one of them has been paid for six months even though they are expected to work. My nephew is one of them and I ask him how the government expects them to make it to work for six months without pay. He tells me that is Kenya today.

If it was not for his mother giving him side jobs in her business as he goes to teach riding his own motorbike for one hour to get there and another hour to get back home, that young man would not have been able to sustain that teaching job.

Hopefully, they get paid next month. He told me they were told it will be a boom, like in all the six months’ pay given altogether. I don’t want to disappoint this man who is actually helping me to build my own house but I wanted to tell him there is no boom of what you are owed coming from the government.

Talk about boom. As students at Nairobi University in those days, the University gave us money, which was a loan of one boom per semester. The rest went to your tuition and we never saw it. I have no idea how many former students remember what they did with their boom.

As for my young teacher nephew, he just needs to be paid his salaries. He likes the job and he is trained for it. Those teachers being hired in January are expected to get their first pay in July this year. So the ones being hired next month can expect their first pay in 2025 god willing. How the heck does anybody run a government like that?

On the bigger picture coming on July 7, next week, how does Ruto and his regime deal with millions of Kenyans demanding a better life? Lock them up too?

Moi tried that and was forced to surrender power meekly sitting at Uhuru Park Grounds where he was booed into oblivion.

And Raila Odinga the man Moi hated the most and had to campaign against in 2002 after Kibaki was hospitalized in London was just sitting there as relaxed as he ever is even in Moi’s detention jails.

Adongo Ogony is a Kenyan Human Rights Activist and  Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada

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