Every yyear, when the minister of finance is reading the budget speech, our honorable members find it to be the appropriate time to take a nap. After the budget speech, they give statements like "it was a balanced budget...It was mwananchi's budget...it was rubbish...it was an election budget..." etc etc ad infintum.

Was this years budget the same old story? What wre its positives? And its negatives?

the positives was that the minister seemed to put more money in education,health and infrustracture that is to say we expect better roads to enable flow of goods and services.
parents will have something to save after the minister take care of both secondary and primary education,
[mwananichi]we get better health care at low cost or free, .

the negatives is that we expect kumikumi dens to increase due to high cost of beer,



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Good people,

I haven’t gone through the budget in details but have seen some of the reviews carried in the local press. For me, Hon. Kimunya was spot on in some key areas which is definitely commendable. These include:

1. Increase in the excise duty on plastic bags. In my view this was the best a smart and right thinking Kenyan ought to have done. People argue that cost of basic commodities will go up on account of this but this is shortsighted. The cost to the environment of these bags is many thousands times the perceived increase in cost of basic commodities. Kimunya should have banned the use of these bags altogether
2. Increased funding towards infrastructure, education and health. This is wonderful
3. Tax waiver to real estate developers who wish to put up low cost housing in slum and pseudo-slum areas
4. Increased funding to youth and women
5. Increased taxation on beer and cigarette
6. The sheer size of the budget and failure to factor for external funding is an indication that the economy is expanding and cleverly captures the optimism and feel good effect among the Kenyans.
Finaly, I fault Kimunya for being personal on some issues. I feel he has an axe to grind with Keroche industry. He did it last year. He has done it again. What went sour between him and Tabitha Karanja???
I will revert as soon as I get all the details.

the budget had lots of positves but increasing tax on second hand spareparts did make sence the biggest population in kenya drive 2nd hand vehicles imported and it hard for someone with that kind of a car to go for example to toyota kenya to get a brand new sparepart.most people go for the second hand in kirinyaga rd and indutrial area.then this translates to increased cost of transportation which is passed on to the consumers\customers thus all the basic goods shoot up in prices.

quote:

Originally posted by hedimeni mutua(mukaburo):
the budget had lots of positves but increasing tax on second hand spareparts did make sence the biggest population in kenya drive 2nd hand vehicles imported and it hard for someone with that kind of a car to go for example to toyota kenya to get a brand new sparepart.most people go for the second hand in kirinyaga rd and indutrial area.then this translates to increased cost of transportation which is passed on to the consumers\customers thus all the basic goods shoot up in prices.

Mukaburo,

I will look at in a more positive way. I think Kimunya was right on this spare parts maneno. The reason why imported second hand parts were cheaper is due to VAT. A genuine new spare part will last longer and probably give you a better value than a used one. The increase in price (16%) is every bit worth it. Cheap can be very expensive at times. Why buy shock absorbers for KShs 600 which will last you 2-3 months instead of a genuine one at KShs 6,000-8000 which will last you 4 years and give you a better performance.

Kimunya is telling us to avoid "quick fixes" which are actually costly in the long run. We must not make kenya a mtumba country where every thing ranging from spare parts to underwears is mtumba!

but how many people can afford it?,it means if am a commercial transporter when my car breaks down i'll have to cough more to put it back on the road i'll have to cough more to put it back and i''l have to charge more to recover my expences.
on the other hand the goverment has reduced cost of education,health and other infrustructure thus the common man has more left to spend so he can afford the increased prices of other goods.

was the increase on used spare parts meant to do away with mitumba and boost our motor vehicle assembly industries, create jobs ? just a question

i agree with you bwana paka that this was long overdue.My only issue is that this cost of packaging will be passed down to the consumer.Thus the production of polythene might not change at all.I wonder whether there is something that can be done to discourage production of these products and if possible ban them.For instance what if we enacted a law that makes all manufactorers who package their items in polythene to either pay for disposal or dispose the used ones or give tax holidays to those who do not use polythene to package their goods.What do you think.?

quote:

Increase in the excise duty on plastic bags. In my view this was the best a smart and right thinking Kenyan ought to have done. People argue that cost of basic commodities will go up on account of this but this is shortsighted. The cost to the environment of these bags is many thousands times the perceived increase in cost of basic commodities. Kimunya should have banned the use of these bags altogether

Sajini,i dont think this phenomena will change anytime soon.We still have a crop of politicians who are semi-illiterate and they can not comprehend this budget jargon.As it is there are M.Ps who have never stood up to contribute in any debate since they were elected in parliament,sad story huh?

quote:

Originally posted by sajini:
Every yyear, when the minister of finance is reading the budget speech, our honorable members find it to be the appropriate time to take a nap. After the budget speech, they give statements like "it was a balanced budget...It was mwananchi's budget...it was rubbish...it was an election budget..." etc etc ad infintum.

Was this years budget the same old story? What wre its positives? And its negatives?

I totally agree with you wakihia,what kimunya is trying here is to protect and improve our local motor vehicle assembly.Nowadays it seems that a local new spare part is cheaper than second hand spare part.

i think what kimunya is trying to say is that we dont need used goods,
they are very costly and they end up killing our people who contribute to the growth of our economy.

And of course we should not forget that there is the cost of human life to be taken into account. Mitumba cars are a danger to their passengers and other road-users. However, when spare parts are discouraged, has Kimunya tried to give the imporrters of new spare parts a cushion so that they do not shift the burden to commuters? I have not looked at the fine detals of this.

It was good to get rid of plastic bags. If Tanzania and Rwanda have done it, and Uganda has commiting to eliminating them, I do not see why we should remain behind.