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Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale has put a section of lawmakers from the Western region in the spotlight over the planned voting of the Finance Bill 2024 in the National Assembly.

In an address on Monday, June 17, 2024, Khalwale noted that all eyes will be on the Members of Parliament (MPs) to see how they will vote on the contentious Finance Bill.

Khalwale argued that their vote will determine their political maturity and the ability to make hard decisions.

“I am going to be glued on TV to see how Fred Ikana (Shinyalu MP) to will vote. I want to see how Bernard Shinali (MP Ikolomani) will speak,” he said.

“I want to see if Elsie Muhanda ( Kakamega Woman Representative) is truly what she says she is. I waiting to see if Peter Salasya will move out of Tiktok and push the agenda of the people.”

Khalwale’s take on Finance Bill

The vocal Kakamega Senator expressed his reservation for the Finance Bill 2024. The legislator pointed out that the taxes are punitive to be applied at once.

Khalwale challenged the MPs to amend some of the proposals which have been deemed suppressive and punitive.

Alternatively, he asked the sponsors of the Bill to spread out the tax proposals over a longer period of time instead of rolling them at once.

“The proposals that are being made to amend the Finance Bill, Members of the National Assembly must listen to them. If you are building a project for three years and its forcing you to tax mwananchi more, there is nothing wrong with spreading it out to build the project in five years so that you tax mwananchi less,” Khalwale argued.

The vote is tomorrow.. pic.twitter.com/wu06JhaEye

— Dr Boni Khalwale, CBS (@DrBKhalwale) June 17, 2024

Planned protests

Despite a section of Kenya Kwanza lawmakers defending some of the punitive tax proposals, a section of Kenyans have vowed to march to parliament to protest the measures.

The disgruntled Kenyans are now mobilising themselves on social media under the hashtag ‘Reject Finance Bill’ to raise awareness and marshal sufficient support to ensure they show up in their numbers to protest on Tuesday, June 18, 2024.

It is not yet clear if the police have given them green light to stage their protests.

This comes even as a recent survey conducted by Infotrak indicated that an overwhelming 87 per cent of Kenyans are opposed to the revenue mobilisation measures proposed in the Bill.

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