City Lawyer Willis Otieno has slammed Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, accusing him of delivering empty statements on “expertise” and what he described as “tough choices” for Kenyans.

In a statement on his official X account on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, Oteino, while criticising CS Mbadi, noted that since he took over the Treasury, ordinary Kenyans have been grappling with persistently high taxation, rising living costs, weak purchasing power, and economic uncertainty.

“Since John Mbadi took over the Treasury, Kenyans have heard endless noise about “expertise” and “difficult decisions,” yet the average citizen is still suffocating under taxation, rising living costs, weak purchasing power, and policy uncertainty,” Otieno stated.

He further went on to raise questions on transformative reforms and fiscal discipline within the Treasury, demanding answers on the coherent economic direction.

“Where are the transformative reforms? Where is the fiscal discipline? Where is the meaningful reduction in waste? Where is the coherent economic direction?,” he added.

Tax cut debate

Otieno’s remarks come amid ongoing public scrutiny of the Finance Bill 2026, which the government says focuses on broadening the tax base and improving compliance rather than introducing new tax rates.

Mbadi has repeatedly defended the government’s fiscal strategy, emphasising economic resilience with projected GDP growth of 5.3% for 2026/27 and efforts to avoid new taxes while reviewing potential relief measures such as PAYE adjustments for lower earners.

Speaking on Monday, May 11, 2026, Mbadi said Treasury is open to reducing the tax burden but warned that the current simulations show that proposals such as zero-rating income up to Ksh30,000 from the current Ksh24,000 could create a Ksh35 billion revenue gap.

He said Treasury would reconsider if ongoing reforms at the Kenya Revenue Authority lead to improved collection from personal income tax.

Mbadi also defended proposals that would allow KRA to prepopulate tax liability based on income information from other sources, saying reliance on self-assessment is not enough and taxpayers would still have the right to challenge assessments.

At the sametime, Treasury maintains that the Finance Bill 2026 is intended to streamline tax administration rather than introduce new tax burdens.