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| The civil society is up in arms over the move by MPs to hike thier salaries while declining to pay taxes |
A civil society lobby group has threatened to move to court to stop an attempt by members of Parliament to hike their salaries before paying taxes.
Early last week, MPs led by house speaker Kenneth Marende were holed up at an informal meeting discussing the tax man's demand and how to effect the now infamous Akiwumi report which recommends their massive pay hike.
This move inflamed the civil society in the country to the extent that the Jukwaa la Katiba activist group has launched a massive nationwide campaign against members of Parliament who have refused to pay taxes.
To add insult to injury, most of the members of the August house have not visited the tax man to pay their dues as every other working Kenyan does.
"That MPs refusing to pay tax are not just traitors, they are also criminals; we want to say to you MPs: if President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, MPs Peter Kenneth and Johnstone Muthama and others who have paid taxes are traitors because they obeyed the Constitution, then we are better off living with traitors than with you criminals," the activists said.
And so Sunday saw the activists all put their signatures on paper signifying their resilience to fight tooth and nail and stop wastage of public resources.
They warned of an unprecedented court battle should MPs go ahead and award themselves the hefty pay hike.
Calling on the citizenry to support the cause, the lobby group said, "we are preparing to petition the court on this issues and will do so in the coming days if the MPs do not scram to KRA to pay their taxes."
"We promise the mother of all battles on this issue. We wish to remind Kenyans that if MPs get away with not paying taxes, we shall have strengthened the anti-reformist politicians and shall have lost the transformation of the Kenyan state," they added.
The petition launched Sunday is dubbed Petition to Rationalize Salaries and Remuneration of State/Public Officers and stop wastage of public resources.
"A big percentage of our revenue normally services recurrent expenditure whereas the development budget is sourced from donors as loans and grants, thus increasing the country's debt burden," they argue.
Among their demands include the immediate constitution of the Salaries and remuneration Commission to take over the responsibility of setting salaries and remuneration of public officers as per the Constitution.
They add that this commission should and must be manned by conscientious Kenyans of integrity and proven commitment to the struggle for empowerment of Kenyans.
The lobbyists also called for immediate action to enforce the requirement that all citizens share the burden of taxation by ensuring that MPs who have not paid their share of taxes do so immediately or face criminal prosecution.
The body has petitioned the government to reject any pay hikes by MPs.
"Government is also left in a weak position in terms of responding to emergencies facing Kenyans such as the on-going famine in parts of North Eastern province. This weakness on the part of the State has forced Kenyans to seek self-help alternatives such as the Kenyans for Kenya initiative, the only alternative," they lobbyists pointed out.
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