Leader of the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition party Raila Odinga believes that the current state of Kenyans is not better than it was fourteen months ago, when President William Ruto succeeded retiring President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Odinga pointed out that the government’s insatiable need for tax revenue was unproductive, as millions of Kenyans—among them hustlers—whom the Kenya Kwanza administration had pledged to uplift—were forced to pay the highest taxes possible under President Ruto’s watch.

In addition to offering President Ruto advice on how to reduce living expenses and lighten Kenyans’ burdens, Odinga requested that the government cut the operational budget by Sh500 billion.

In addition, he demanded that the Finance Act 2023, which imposed a number of levies under the Kenya Kwanza regime and left Kenyans with fewer funds in their pockets despite the skyrocketing costs of necessities.

He went on to say that closing corruption loopholes that allow billions of shillings to fall into people’s pockets is urgently needed.

Odinga claims that the solution to the current trend of rising living expenses and more taxes is to combine this with tax reductions, budgetary restraint, and sustainable debt management.

The former prime minister attacked the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for imposing additional taxes on taxpayers, stating that, as he had previously warned, this approach is ineffective because KRA has not been able to reach its goals despite raising taxes.

President William Ruto assured Kenyans at his State of the Nation address earlier this week in parliament that the nation is headed in the right direction and that the difficulties facing the country now are a necessary trade-off for long-term solutions.