Ruto urges MPs to pass Finance Bill 2024, amid nationwide protests

President William Ruto has urged Members of Parliament to pass the Finance Bill 2024, despite nationwide protests against its proposed tax measures.

Speaking at Garissa University’s fifth graduation ceremony, Ruto emphasised that the bill's passage is crucial for securing jobs for junior secondary school intern teachers and doctors.

He warned that rejecting the bill would delay the employment of teachers on permanent and pensionable terms and the hiring of an additional 20,000 teachers, due to a proposed Sh18.9 billion budget cut in the 2024-25 Financial Year.

The Treasury has proposed a delay in the confirmation of the teachers to permanent and pensionable terms and a budget cut of Sh18.9 billion in the 2024-25 Financial Year.

“I am asking the Members of Parliament who are here to expedite what is in Parliament (Finance Bill) so that we can transit these well-deserving teachers who have been teaching for the last two years and make them permanent and pensionable,” Ruto said.

Ruto said the passage of the bill is important in funding student loans under the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) and school feeding programmes for vulnerable children.

“I am asking the MPs to expedite the bill in Parliament so that we can make that facility available to vulnerable children who otherwise will be out of school unless there is a meal for them there,” Ruto added.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u has cautioned that failure to pass the bill could lead to a Sh200 billion revenue shortfall, necessitating budget cuts.

“If the revenue-raising measures contained in the Finance Bill 2024 are not approved by the National Assembly, there will be a likely revenue shortfall of approximately Sh200 billion,” Ndung’u said in a letter to the National Assembly.

This, however, has not prevented Kenyans across the country from protesting against the new tax proposals as contained in the Finance Bill, 2024.

On Thursday, the protests took place across several counties including; Nairobi, Eldoret, Nakuru, Nyeri, Kisumu, and Kakamega.

Among the tax proposals dropped are 16 per cent VAT on bread, VAT on the transportation of sugar, tax on financial services and foreign exchange transactions and 2.5 per cent for motor vehicles.