The Azimio Party has persisted in its opposition to President William Ruto’s initial Finance Bill 2023 and is now asserting that there are no revisions that can save the bill.
The statement was made by the party on Wednesday at a press conference and was titled “The budget proposal remains flawed beyond redemption.”
In a statement that party Executive Council Chair Wycliffe Oparanya read, Azimio said, “As we stated earlier, nothing in the way of adjustments can redeem this bill.”
“There are certain topics about which we feel an intense level of emotion and are unyielding. We are of the opinion that the people of Kenya have been suffering for an extended period of time. The proposed cuts to the budget would make things even more difficult for the Kenyan people.
Raila Odinga, the head of the Azimio party, has provided a list of arguments explaining why members of Parliament need to vote against the Finance Bill 2023.
Raila issued a statement on Wednesday in which he stated that the proposed budget is still deeply wrong and cannot be saved.
According to what he indicated, the Finance Bill 2023 cannot be saved by whatever number of revisions are proposed.
In order to convince parliamentarians to oppose the contentious measure that the Kenya Kwanza administration is supporting, Raila has offered at least ten arguments.
” We have reason to assume that the Kenyan people have been suffering for an extended period of time. The misery of the people will be prolonged and made much worse as a result of this budget plan.
“As a political party, we hold the belief that Kenyans would flourish if we reduced their tax burden rather than raised it. The proposed legislation would raise tax rates,” he said.
In addition, he said that the nation would prosper when there was a reasonable level of spending. The bill recommends increasing expenditures and spending more money than Kenya currently has available.
“We feel that things will go more smoothly for the nation if we devolve power in a manner that is more consistent with the Constitution.” This bill intends that governments delegate less and instead requests additional funds for the national government for services that would otherwise be devolved,” he added. “This bill proposes to devolve less.”
He went on to say that Azimio is of the opinion that the nation will work more effectively after the middle class has improved. The budget will bring about the demise of the middle class, and when we bring about their demise, we will affect millions of Kenyans.
“We believe in strengthening and broadening the safety that is provided to our people by social security. This bill will lead to a reduction in social protection.”