Raila threatens to ask his supporters to stop paying tax
Raila Odinga has threatened to ask his supporters not to pay tax if the government does not prioritize development to areas that voted for him in the August 2022 polls.
While addressing mourners at the funeral of Peter Okoth in his Kisumu backyard, Mr Odinga, who contested for the presidency in the August 2022 polls and came second to President William Ruto, that development projects are the right of every Kenyan.
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The seasoned politician stressed that nobody should beg for development projects.
“The national government has a responsibility to carry out certain development projects in all these areas, otherwise I will tell people to stop paying taxes.”
Additionally, Mr Odinga vowed to tell the world how his supposed victory was stolen in the August 2022 polls.
He said: “We know what happened and when the time comes we shall reveal. I urge you to be patient. We shall act like fools but there will come a time when the truth will be out in the open,” he shared.
His sentiments come at a time when the Head of State said that every Kenyan above 18 years issued with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) pin so as to qualify them as tax payers.
Speaking during the KRA tax day, President William Ruto said, “Every Kenyan with an ID should have a PIN number. Technology, and a considerate, fair and professional mobilisation will do the job quite well,” adding that KRA should follow Safaricom’s footsteps.
“There are only 7 million people with KRA pin numbers. At the same time, in the same economy, Safaricom’s MPESA has 30 million registered customers, transacting billions daily. The fact that this opportunity remains unclear to KRA demonstrates why radical changes are necessary. Safaricom, a telco, has registered more people than KRA, a powerful state organisation. It is very clear that the magic lies in technology and strategy, not power and resources,” he added.
Mr Odinga lost to President Ruto in the 2022 polls and his attempts to seek legal redress to challenge Ruto’s win being thrown out by a seven bench judges led by the Chief Justice Martha Koome.
In 2017, Mr Odinga asked his supporters to resist from buying certain products which he claimed his owners had helped then President Uhuru Kenyatta to rig his victory.