JOHN MBADI NOMINATED AS KENYA’S TREASURY CABINET SECRETARY AMIDST ECONOMIC TURBULENCE
Treasury Cabinet Secretary nominee John Mbadi will join the government amidst protests over the withdrawn Finance Bill 2024 that has rocked President William Ruto’s administration.
Mbadi, before his appointment to the Cabinet by Ruto, had been a sharp critic of the government on fiscal policies touching on the said Bill and Ruto’s maiden CSs.
During the 2022 vetting of the first cabinet, Ruto did make a very passionate speech where he foretold the downfall of the former CSs, whom he argued were incompetent to serve and deliver.
“Let’s give Ruto his skunk.” An excerpt of the now-famous speech of the nominated MP Mbadi reads. He further argues that the opposition then had an option to reject the CSs or let Ruto have his way.
In October last year, Mbadi also lashed out at Ruto’s administration, arguing it was overtaxing Kenyans, negating the effort to grow revenue.
“We agree that the level of debt is unsustainable, but the error the government is making is to imagine it will collect more from Kenyans by increasing taxes.”
Wednesday’s move by Ruto to nominate Mbadi for the Cabinet Secretary position for National Treasury marked a turn for the harshest critic of the government’s fiscal policy to implement some of the measures that he had vehemently criticized.
Ruto picked the former Suba South MP as he expanded an overhaul of his government in a move to end protests against the government in which at least 54 persons have died.
The protests were called off after the shelved the Finance Bill 2024, which housed stringent tax proposals.
Mbadi is an accountant by profession, and he chairs the opposition party, Orange Democratic Movement, led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. One of the changes that Ruto has made in these appointments is settling for an accountant to take up this role, having been criticized previously for appointing CSs to dockets outside their professions.
Provided he wins the confidence of Parliament, the new financial year will charge Mbadi with tightening the country’s purse. He will reduce the wastage by the government, a factor that has led to protests by young Kenyans.
What remains to be seen is how Mbadi is going to appease the anger of protesters—who have associated tax hikes and legislation passed in 2023 with the IMF loans that the country, which has been struggling under severe indebtedness, has taken.
