Majority of Kenyans Oppose Proposed Finance Bill, According to Poll

According to a recent survey conducted by the Centre for Fiscal Affairs (CFA) and Twaweza, at least 75% of Kenyans strongly opposed the Finance Bill 2023.

Only 1.9% of survey respondents strongly favor the law, according to the poll.

The study reveals that 2.8% of Kenyans support the Finance Bill 2023, while 2.4% have no opinion on it.

However, 17.8% oppose the legislation, and 83.8% of respondents noted that there was insufficient citizen input into its preparation.

25,966 people took part in the survey, which was conducted between May 19 and June 6, 2023, on an online forum.

Approximately 68% of the correspondents favored reducing the excise tax on data bundles from 20% to 15%.

Prior to a debate on Thursday, the contentious measure that has drawn both criticism and support from Kenyan officials and citizens was introduced in Parliament on Tuesday.

On Thursday, June 15, Njuguna Ndungu, the Treasury Cabinet Secretary, will read the budget in Parliament prior to the discussion.

In his Madaraka Day speech, President William Ruto acknowledged his happiness with the discussion the proposed bill has sparked.

According President Ruto, the measure has transformed the nation’s dialogue from a political and ethnic debate to an economic one.

“There is a robust debate on the Finance Bill taking place everywhere in this country, in churches, social gathering places, formal and informal workplaces, all media platforms, and busy as well as in urban and rural gathering,” Ruto added.

The conversation has been issue-focused for weeks at this point, and any mention of divisive racial rhetoric is completely absent.