Taxman to recover Sh25m from top four state officers

Kenya’s top four politicians will be made to reimburse the taxman nearly Sh25 million in arrears.

President Kibaki owes the taxman nearly Sh7.35 million based on the Sh24.5 million he is expected to have earned in salaries and allowances by the close of the current financial year.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga also has an estimated Sh6.12 million bill, while Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and House Speaker Kenneth Marende owe nearly Sh5.1 million each.

And it emerged that politicians who will not have cleared their tax obligations will not be cleared to contest elections.

Interim Independent Electoral Commission CEO James Oswago said the commission would bar any individual who has not been remitting taxes as long as it receives a written communication indicating the same from the relevant organ.

“Not paying taxes is a very serious matter. When that time comes for us to make the decision and we have it in writing, we will have to consider it together with other issues set out in the Constitution including Article 10 on integrity and transparency and chapter seven on leadership,” said Mr Oswago.

He added that no candidate will be cleared for election under the new Constitution if they do not meet the requirements set out.

The electoral commission, he said, will also consult the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission before it can clear the candidates.

Article 99(2)(f) also says that one is disqualified from running for election if they are declared bankrupt.

It also emerged that MPs could delay debate on the Salaries and Remuneration Commission and push for the Parliamentary Service Commission Bill which recommends that their salary be increased to compensate for the amount they will pay in income tax.

The new Constitution now clearly states in Article 210(3) that “No law may exclude or authorise the exclusion of a State officer from payment of tax.” The taxman’s demand for the tax arrears has the public’s full support.

A senior member of the defunct committee of Experts that drafted the Constitution told the Nation that Constitution Implementation Commission’s interpretation of the law is the correct position.

“We did deliberate on the issue and agreed that nobody is exempted ... So that is the spirit of the Constitution,” said the member who asked not to be named.

He said MPs were told they will not be forced to pay tax for them to support the Constitution during the referendum.

“That was a political interpretation. It was important then and indeed it served its purpose,” said the member.

On average, ministers owe nearly Sh4 million each while ordinary MPs owe over Sh2 million each. Kenya Revenue Authority confirmed on Thursday that it is carrying out the necessary computations for figures they would use in case affected offices would not have declared the tax themselves by mid next month.

That effectively moves the debate from whether the MPs and the other 11 constitutional offices should pay tax to when they should remit what they owe in arrears.

The commissioner in charge of domestic taxes, Mr John Njiraini, said KRA was facing the challenge of how to exhaustively trace taxable allowance especially payable to ministers because they are paid both from the ministry and from Parliament.