Nyanza To Be Double Taxed Under The New Constitution

By Mwarang'ethe

On 27th August, 2010, the day Kenyans promulgated a “new constitution,” the Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga told us that, in accordance with the best constitutional experts, we are “Free at last, from the tyranny of the State,” as we read here. On his part, the President, Mwai Kibaki told us that, “It’s a new dawn for Kenya, and we deserve to celebrate,” as we read here:

To reinforce this wonderful message, Julius Kipng’etich, he of the KWS, told us jubilantly this: “Ready for takeoff: Finally, Kenya has a blueprint to be an economic powerhouse,” like Singapore, Honk Kong and Botswana as we read here:

On our part, we declare that, to rely on so called constitutional law experts to draft a constitution was a terrible mistake. What we needed are men and women well versed with Ancient, Middle Ages and Modern history (history of rise and decay of civilizations), economics (history of economic ideas), philosophy (moral philosophy) and sociology. With such people, we would only need a single lawyer, who need not call himself pompous names such a constitutional law expert, for his job will be that of a mere draftsman. This is a heavy charge against eminent lawyers like Ghai and Nzamba Kitonga. However, we shall support it by demonstrating how Nyanza, a region that has suffered terrible economic injustice in the past will now be double taxed under this wonderful “new constitution ” of theirs.

On 31st May, 2010, the DN reported this: “Fishermen on Lake Victoria to pay fee.” See here . Among other stuff, we read this: Fishermen on Lake Victoria will soon start paying fees to be allowed to ply their trade on the water body. This is one of the ways that a joint fisheries ministers meeting between the three countries using the lake came up with as a source of funding. It is among a raft of measures aimed at raising money to run affairs of the sector. Also, “All countries must ensure that the landing site user fee is legislated as a funding mechanism for Beach Management Unit.”

By introducing land rent on the Nyanza fishermen, the Kenyan government is telling them this. No other Kenyan will pay taxes to maintain the lake. All the revenue to maintain the lake must therefore, come from those who benefit from resources provided by Nature. This is the way forward, and we fully support this proposal. Our proposal along these lines can be read under “Proposed Constitution: Land Question Mishandled ". However, note this very carefully. In addition to this land rent, the poor Nyanza fishermen will also pay other taxes such as VAT when they buy necessities of life like salt and sugar.

If the poor fishermen from Nyanza must exclusively pay to maintain “their” lake, how do we propose to treat those others who “fish” in waters called Nairobi, Thika road or Machakos etc? The answer is here. On 7th July, 2010, inquiring mind read this in the Standard: “Speculators anxious over Machakos land”.

Among other stuff, inquiring minds read this. A certain bare land in Machakos “turned into a fruitful vine overnight after the State made its intentions public on the development akin to California’s Silicon Valley.” In other words, when the State, whose tyranny we are told is over by Raila Odinga announced the INTENTION to build some infrastructure funded by the VAT paid by the poor fisherman from Nyanza, a lot of “investors” rushed to buy land to “secure vantage positions ahead of the technopolis."

Why are they doing this? Simple, "People who bought an acre at Sh300, 000 and less five months ago sold it at Sh800, 000 within a month." Simply, within a month, these so called investors pocketed Sh500, 000 while doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. So, who has made these millionaires and billionaire? The poor fishermen in Nyanza who must pay VAT, income tax to the Kenyan government so as to build the infrastructure which raises the value of the land for the FEW who are strategically placed. If you do not call this tyranny and ROBERY, then, we would like hear what you call it. Simply, ROBBERY just like that of a common thug with an AK 47, but, this time without guilt feelings because you can hide behind a fiction called State.

There have been endless talks about wealth gap between the Nyanza fishermen and “investors” such as the ones we read about here. Herein, we demonstrate the SOURCE. So, how do solve the problem? Extremely simple. Require those who “fish” in Nairobi, Machakos, Thika road etc to EXCLUSIVELY pay for the privilege of “fishing” in such rich waters. In other words, STOP ROBBING the poor Nyanza fishermen via VAT etc, and require those who occupy Muthaiga, Karen, Thika road, Kiambu, Machakos to pay for the police, roads, and sewage.

Where will they get the money from? Only a constitutional lawyer cannot see what a fool can see. Take the sh500, 000 as an example for all the land surrounding the technopolis and fund the common infrastructure therein. If these so called “investors” (gamblers) want to get rich, we are very happy with that, but, let them develop the land and build factories so as to create real wealth if they are men and women of substance. Even better, we will leave them to pocket all the gains once they pay land values.

There are those like Phil, Chris, and Philip who have asserted that, we are utopian. Fine. We ask why is it utopian when we demand that, those who occupy land in Nairobi be treated in the same manner as we propose to treat the poor fishermen in Nyanza? In all honesty, we have demanded what is just in law and equity. This is so because; we have demanded what is right before God and Man.

Let the useless land speculators who unlike the Nyanza fishermen who give us food relinquish land values created by poor fishermen from Nyanza so as to fund the necessary infrastructure. So, implemented, we would relieve the long suffering fishermen from this state sanctioned tyranny and robbery? This is the SIMPLE formula for liberty and wealth creation.

However, instead of such a simple formula, Kenyans have come up with complicated nonsense to hide their naked formulas of oppression. We denounce these complicated formulas for what they are. The shameless shifting of the man’s curse that; he shall eat bread from the sweat of his brow, to the shoulders of his helpless brother. We therefore, violate both Divine and Natural laws for we build a nation in total disregard of true nature of both physical and moral nature of man. Nothing built upon such rotten foundation can stand. A heavy price shall be paid for this attempted impunity.

Many conclusions flow from above observations. Firstly, the failure to adhere to what we have said has brought about so called welfare state. However, anyone versed with the history of this stupidity from the Roman times, knows where all is going to end up. Even worse, when we refuse to take what is social wealth by privatising it, we drive the land prices up through speculation which eats all our bank credit as they try to grab a piece of the free lunch instead of funding real wealth creation.

The consequences for this are very grave for we squeeze industrial capitalist’s profits and thereby, wages for the labour. How we intend to industrialise a nation of low profits and low wages is unknown to us. In other words, we have squandered the greatest opportunity to lay a firm and just foundation for industrializing our nation so as to remove want among our people.

Some will tell us about the land commission that is forthcoming. Well, our answer is that, we have seen this movie many times in history and we are pretty sure what is going to happen. For instance, the “new constitution” talks about limiting the size of land. As the Machakos story educates us, it is not size that matters, it is three things. Location, location and location.

How your county government will transform Kenyan politics

I missed the Katiba celebrations because I came down with something quite serious on Friday night. Am still resting but mercifully the worst is now over. I guess we shall have to continue my weekend special on the Kamba people next weekend.

There are many things in Kenya which are going to change enormously after the events of last Friday. In fact right now my big worry is if Kenyans can handle change on such a massive scale and at such speed. The human mind and body is designed to take in change much more gradually. But alas this is what tends to happen when a people get so totally fed up with the old order of things. They reach a place where they just want out and have no time to stop and ask themselves if they can handle the change they seek.
Many political commentators agree that they have never seen the president so passionate about something (like he has been about the new constitution) and they have never seen him so happy about something (like he was in the picture after signing the new constitution into law). The fact that Kibaki delivered the new constitution has rescued his legacy rather dramatically. Lucky man!!

But for the purposes of this post let me focus on the change in our politics that the new constitution will usher in. Do you know the most powerful political seat, indeed more powerful than the presidency in our new constitution? I am of course talking about the Governor of a county. For instance the president’s appointments will have to be approved by parliament but the governors will NOT. I mean this man or woman will have such power in the county that even retired President Moi who was a god in his time, will envy.

What all this means is that the public will lose interest in National politics. It will all be happening in the counties where decisions will be made every day that will impact very dramatically and quickly on the people’s lives.

I keep wondering about how the media will adjust. The media in Kenya has gone through many changes in the recent past and now comes this most dramatic and far-reaching one of a new constitution with new demands. I see media houses like Royal Media services having a head start over other media houses since they have such a large stable of FM radio stations covering many different regions of the country. There will be great need for media at the counties and I would expect the FM stations to be the initial major form of communication at this level. There will also be opportunities for quick thinking entrepreneurs to find a way to make low circulating newspapers work. Some prosperous counties may even be able to sustain their own TV stations. Indeed even Kumekucha has to re-invent itself to fit snugly into the new Kenya and I am still thinking about that very deeply and will appreciate suggestions from my usually quick-witted readers here.

There have been fears amongst some old school Kenyans who will always want to believe that nothing but the old systems can work in Kenya, to the effect that counties will promote tribalism. Admittedly a few short-sighted governors may want to promote negative ethnicity at the beginning but they will soon find that their counties are lagging behind. The bottom line will be to promote the prosperity of one’s county at all costs and the way to do this is to co-operate with other counties while encouraging a rapid influx of investors from other counties. Smart governors will seek to find what resources and talents their areas of jurisdiction can best exploit because the truth is that nobody can be good at everything. So it is unlikely that any county will be self sufficient in everything.

True entrepreneurs should now be rubbing their hands in glee waiting for the full implementation of the new constitution. This is because there will be massive new opportunities at the county level for all kinds of things. For starters basic essential services like water and electricity are going to be in very high demand and so companies that deal in solar energy, water tanks and other basics should be positioning themselves to sell proposals to respective counties. Entrepreneurs prosper while solving people’s problems and so enterprising companies will now have to take a serious look at the problems in counties and how their products and services can help solve them.

And that brings me to the most important change in politics that counties will bring. The focus will shift from individuals to issues. Until now our politics has always been about personalities whilst real issues have mostly been ignored.

I dare say that what I love most about this new order of things is that silly tribal comments like Kikuyu this and Raila that will lose all meaning even in a blog like this one. That will be the day!!!