Govt Probing 300 Companies Linked To Uhuru, Ruto Allies
Some of the companies being investigated, he said, are those whose owners had enjoyed tax exemption by law...
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The government has launched investigations into at least 300 companies associated with powerful individuals in the previous and current regimes over non-payment of taxes.
Speaking to the Nation on Sunday, February 5, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Prof Njuguna Ndung’u and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) chairperson Anthony Ng’ang’a Mwaura revealed that a probe is underway on companies that have been escaping paying taxes as well as those that have enjoyed tax exemptions against the law.
However, the CS noted that companies that have been enjoying lawful exemptions will not have to worry as there is a law that oversees exemptions, which will be taken into consideration in the process.
Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung'u being grilled by MPs in Parliament. /FILE
“There is a law governing exemptions. That is the one we are following strictly,” CS Ndung’u said.
A majority of the companies likely to be affected by drastic tax reforms are those owned by the country's big families, with Mwaura disclosing that firms in the list belong to the ‘untouchables’ of former administrations.
According to him, some of those companies have not been paying taxes since independence, with the reforms also targeting companies owned by families linked to President William Ruto's administration
“Everyone has to come on board when it comes to paying taxes because even the President is paying his taxes, including myself.
"No one in Kenya Kwanza is being exempted from taxation and that is why very many companies of untouchable people of former administrations will have to pay tax now. There are people in this country who have not been paying taxes since independence,” Mwaura stated.
Some of the companies being investigated, he said, are those whose owners had enjoyed tax exemption by law and others whose owners were using their close relationships with powerful persons in government to intimidate KRA officials.
He went on to announce that KRA has given the companies which have been evading taxes timelines to clear their arrears, and among those include a wine and spirit company of a senior member of the former administration which owes KRA Ksh7.6 billion.
Another, he said, “is dumping oil in the country for export.”
The Kenya Kwanza administration is under pressure to increase annual revenue collection to Ksh3 trillion amid rising debt and a demand for funding of multibillion-shilling projects.
Breaking her silence on the matter for the first time on Saturday, February 4, former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta, the mother of former President Uhuru Kenyatta, lashed out at President William Ruto's government over claims that her family has been linked to tax evasion.
Speaking at the St. Teresa's Catholic Church in Mpeketoni, Lamu County on Saturday, February 4, Mama Ngina accused a section of politicians of propagating lies so that Kenyans see that they are carrying out their mandate.
"I hear some claims insinuating that some people don't pay tax...I'm surprised because everyone is waking up to say this, another one that, but the government has its own agenda of how things work.
"Matters regarding tax, income tax is a must, young or old, to pay depending on their capability and income. This is not something we should be discussing in the newspaper, in meetings or on TV because if you fail to pay taxes, you are taken to court and that is the law," she addressed.
Mama Ngina went to the extent of daring the Kenya Kwanza administration to auction her property and sell it off to recoup any perceived debt if the claims surrounding her tax evasion turn out to be true.
"If you fail to pay what you are supposed to pay, it is a must for your belongings to be taken and auctioned. So there is no need to tarnish people's names so that others see that you are doing work, you are driving the country forward, no.
"A person should be reported so that he or she pays what is supposed to be paid. If it is me, even if I have failed to pay taxes for a year, take my property which will pay that tax. So there is no need of doing politics here and there...and people know they are not telling the truth, they want to say it so that they are heard calling names," she added.
A report by Oxfam on Thursday, January 19 revealed that Kenya's fourth president is the fourth wealthiest person in the country with a net worth of Ksh60 billion.
However, the report warned that Uhuru's wealth was likely connected to his wider family. The Kenyatta family is known for its interests in a wide range of sectors, including banking, milk processing, transport, media, hospitality and land.
Former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta speaks during the opening of the Tewa Catholic Church in Mpeketoni, Lamu County, on February 4, 2023. /CITIZEN DIGITAL
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