Linda Mwananchi, We Say, Can We See What Those Taxes Are Actually Doing - Clive Gisairo

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]percent, all of that, and look at what it all comes out to be. The person who yesterday needed to make their 400 shillings to then be able to feed their family doesn't know about maintenance levy or whatever. They won't to understand what [clears throat] is it going to take for this thing to come to an end so that I may go do my job, earn what I'm going to earn, and then feed my family at the end of the day.

[00:00:25]They are the ones who want to understand why then do I have to if I were to go and find something to do, my children are not going to go to school for whatever reason. Do I have to find some form of care for them and pay 150 shillings? It may sound like a menial number, but for somebody to say that they need to look for 150 shillings to take care of their children or put them in a daycare somewhere so that they can walk to so that they can walk to town, >> Mhm.

[00:00:48]get something to do, and then walk back home.

[00:00:51]These are the realities that we are dealing with today, and people are saying, "Okay, well, that's great, but what are we what is the solution to this? Is it waiting for an election? Is it shouting every day and saying that this change must come? Is it having rallies and pronouncing the intent to want to take over leadership? What is it going to take to change the situation in the pockets and homes of Kenyans today who are in the majority that look for this solution?"

[00:01:22]Uh first of all, I think there's no better people who who understand what 50 shilling means to the people more than some of us, uh rural constituency members of parliament.

[00:01:33]>> Mhm. Uh and sometimes it's painfully so.

[00:01:36]Mhm. Uh we we interact with our constituents, and as I've said, we know what we they are going through.

[00:01:41]>> Mhm. Now, in Kenya, is the taxes and levies really the problem?

[00:01:52]For me, that is not the problem. It becomes a problem when we cannot account Mhm. properly and prudently for the taxes we've taken from one inch. Mhm.

[00:02:05]If you tax Kenyans and they're able to walk to hospital and get treated.

[00:02:10]If you tax Kenyans and the roads don't have potholes.

[00:02:15]If you tax Kenyans and public education sector has quality.

[00:02:22]Right?

[00:02:23]>> Mhm. And properly funded.

[00:02:25]And you're comfortable that your child can go to class Mhm.

[00:02:29]>> [clears throat] >> and get education because your taxes are working.

[00:02:34]Then Kenyans will be willing to pay taxes.

[00:02:39]The problem today is the taxes are seen in a few people. Mhm.

[00:02:44]You've seen people carrying cash. Cash.

[00:02:46]But Why why are you carrying cash? In today's time with M-Pesa, with you know, mobile money and all that. Mhm.

[00:02:54]Uh or you can swipe your card and anything. Why are we walking around to be seen a bag full of cash? Mhm. And led by the presidency itself.

[00:03:05]That he he's he's promising, "I'll give you this money." And then instead of transferring the money to me to whatever agency has promised someone is sent to some place and carries cash. Mhm.

[00:03:19]You know, it's it's to go into people's mind that I have the money. Mhm. Right?

[00:03:23]And those are our taxes.

[00:03:25]So, what we're saying as Linda Wanjiku is this.

[00:03:29]There are those taxes that can be brought down. Mhm.

[00:03:33]Let them be brought down.

[00:03:34]And for the ones that cannot be brought down because for government to run, uh taxes have to be paid irrespective of where you live.

[00:03:43]Can we see what those taxes are actually doing? Are they helping the common one inch?

[00:03:51]Because we're talking about the public sector. So for for the person who is able, they rarely attend to the use the public sector. They they take their kids to private schools, they go to private hospitals and all and all that, right? We are talking about the public sector. Are we able to have this money reflect in the public hospitals? Is there medicine? Why do I have to go get the doctor checks on me and then sharp is all that. But when it reaches to the medication, she says you the doctor the hospital says you have to go and buy the medication. Then why did I go to the hospital? The reason of going to hospital is to get Medicare. Medicare is medication.

[00:04:31]If you remove medication, just the doctor told me you are sick of malaria, but doesn't give me the medicine, I go home with the same problem I came with. Actually worse off because I now know the disease that I have may take me out anytime.

[00:04:45]You see, I go home with more depression.

[00:04:47]So what we saying is if we take over whatever group that is not the current Kenya Kwanza, if we take over Linda Mwananchi and whoever we may work with, the first thing is to put the common Mwananchi interest first. Ensure that health care is affordable, not affordable actually, is free and accessible right at your sub-county hospital.

[00:05:20]You don't need to come to Nairobi.

[00:05:22]People still have to come for this cancer treatment in Nairobi. Why can't we have it in every county?

[00:05:29]Is is it really too expensive that a country cannot afford?

[00:05:32]I don't think so. You see, you see Clyde, what has been what what Kenyans are grappling with today is with the promises that Linda Mwananchi is giving Kenyans may equated to the same promises that Kenya Kwanza gave Kenyans as they were campaigning, you know?

[00:05:50]>> Right.

[00:05:50]They had these manifestos including charters with the different groups, you know, we get in we'll do this, we get