WHY GOVERNORS SHOULDN’T LAY OFF FORMER EMPLOYEES, CHARGE ADDITIONAL TAXES Sometimes back through this forum, I wrote an open letter to the Governor of Vihiga in which I impressed upon him to set aside a finance bill which had been prepared by his county assembly, to charge additional taxes and levy of obnoxious fees on various sources of incomes without the involvement of the public, controller of budget and the committee on the implementation of the constitution [CIC]. I wish to take this first credit by being the first person to evaluate that bill and declare it illegal/ unconstitutional thereby giving carbon copies of my grievances to the president and his deputy. I am happy to report that on the basis of those complaints, the governor did not proceed with the bill as was planned while on the other side, the deputy president concurred with our grievances and directed that no county shall in future pass any finance bill without the involvement of the people, director of budget and the CIC. [Daily Nation 1st February, 2014 Pg 4] Going back to our topic, whether governors should lay off former staff or not, I wish to appreciate the fact that all counties are economically stagnated due to lack of funds to run budgets, thus raising the questions, why did the governors have to return the money allocated to them back to treasury [sh.33 billion] and yet there was big need for such money? Wasn’t that funny? A critical look at counties reveal that majority of them have recorded deficits budgets. Isn’t this even more funny? What are these budget deficits meant for? I think the government is so drunk with the notion that devolution must succeed to the extent that it is not able to differentiate between facts, lies and ambiguities by governors. For instance, if a large number of employees are laid off or retrenched as is suggested, its effects will obviously increase our national unemployment rates thus making the government to go against its own objectives of providing numerous opportunities of employment. A country which has a large number of unemployed people will always portray an economy that is not productive hence, such an economy may risk running into economic recession and inflation the result of which is nothing but chaos – high cost of doing business due to high taxes, high prices of goods and services, reduced savings and investments, difficulties in expansion of businesses, high bank rates and lastly lack of self – sustained economic growth. The above factors are slowing down the economic growth of our counties and therefore, it is my humble request that leaders [the president and governors] should have to ensure an enabling environment for an efficient and effective stable development in the country. Likewise, an economy which is already in a recession e.g. [Vihiga County] cannot be salvaged by a mere increase of taxes and levy of unnecessary fees to get extra money. Instead, leaders should take the responsibility to develop counties by pumping into economies further funds from external sources. It is only such monies which can transform them into normal conditions of sustained growth and not charging of ambiguous taxes and levy of unnecessary fees. christopheramasava@yahoo Former ODM Aspirant Vihiga Constituency 03/02/2014
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 10:06:28 +0000
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