John Mbadi said the Finance Bill 2026 was removing taxes on phones and retaining only the new 25% excise duty.
But after reading the bill, I can confidently say Kenyans were misled.
The bill does NOT appear to remove Import Duty on phones, which is around 25% and one of the biggest taxes on imported phones.
What it clearly removes are IDF and RDL, which together are only about 4.5%.
At the same time, it increases the Excise Duty from:
10% → 25%.
So the government removes about 4.5%...
then increases another tax by 15%.
How exactly does that make phones cheaper?
And there is another catch.
The bill makes phones VAT EXEMPT, not ZERO RATED.
Those are not the same thing.
If phones were truly being freed from VAT costs, they would have been zero-rated.
Instead, VAT exemption can leave VAT costs that are ultimately reflected in the final price.
So under the bill;
Import Duty:
≈ 25%
New Excise:
25%
That is already about 50% before considering VAT-related costs.
Using a simplified illustration, the total burden can easily exceed 55% and approach 66%.
So again I ask:
If Import Duty remains,
Excise rises from 10% to 25%,
and VAT exemption replaces zero-rating,
How exactly are phone prices supposed to come down?
Read the bill yourself.
By Sholla Ard
A Kenyan by the name Elias Wekesa has taken Safaricom to court, and every Kenyan should pay attention.
He says Safaricom deactivated his line after it stayed inactive for a few months, then reassigned it to another person.
When he tried using it again, he was met with a shock.
The number was gone.
Worse, he says he could no longer receive OTPs from his bank and other platforms tied to that number.
This case matters because it touches every Kenyan.
Because your phone number is no longer just a number.
It is tied to your bank account.
Your email.
Your work accounts.
Your private life.
The moment that number is handed to someone else, the risks begin.
OTPs can go elsewhere.
Recovery codes can land in another person’s hands.
Account alerts can reach a stranger.
That person is not just holding a SIM card.
They may be holding access to parts of your digital life.
And if they have bad intentions, the damage can be immediate.
And for families who have lost loved ones, it cuts even deeper.
A parent’s number.
A sibling’s number.
A loved one’s number.
One day, it holds memories.
The next day, it belongs to a stranger.
This is why Safaricom must be forced to create stronger safeguards before reassigning numbers.
Because in today’s world, a phone number is not disposable.
It is identity.
And identity should never be reassigned without protection.
To those who are asking about where to read about the Odious Debts' Petition, @rtunguru made a website highlighting the Ksh 6.9T odious debts petition. Here is the link https://t.co/FyLjS5WA1y
#DeniBandia#ReKe#DrainTheSwamp
Can we get an explanation as to why salaried Kenyans are compelled to contribute to the Housing Levy to construct houses on public land ; land held in trust for all citizens, only to be required to purchase these same houses from intermediaries who profit from public contributions, despite adding no value? What legal or policy justification exists for taxing citizens to build, then selling the same to them at a profit?
This is not the first delegation to visit Statehouse. Several of such are held every week. Such an event with everyone walking away with an envelope will cost nothing less than 100 million. After these delegate visits, he'll go back to their counties in the name if “development” rally just to ask them the same thing he was asking them today “Watu Ya Kirinyaga nyinyi Mnasemaje” just for him to hear Tutam to satisfy his ego.
In those raylly, he'll spend not less than 50 million for mobilization & theatrics. Every single day we are wasting hundreds of millions just for optics and fake popularity impressions. Any sane President wouldn't waste all this kind of money when a Cancer machine has broken down and remains non-functional for months at KNH?
In education, schools are bleeding as a result of reduced capitation. CBE is on its knees because public junior schools don't have laboratories, ICT labs or even sports facilities. When will the president work for the people. His predecessors never wasted money like him.
This is one of the reasons why Statehouse is requesting billions of money every single time. It doesn't matter if you're pro government or anti government, this man needs to be told the truth. This country is bleeding & Kenyans are suffering. Why can't he work for Kenyans & stop wasting money on BULLSHIT!!
We haven’t forgetten the scandals that have happened in 4 months..,from the issuance of our passport to the RSF, diversion of 6.3B to a private acc.,,increase of the statehouse budget to 17B,mass grave in Kericho, disappearance of 11B from SHA..the Kindiki 8M a day budget etc
There is a demographic, many of whom are even in Government, that does not realize we are living under KANU 2.0, only with a more driven, more polished, more energetic Moi.
- All knowing, always visible leader with opinions on everything that is always in the media
- Figurehead cabinet secretaries, many of whom we never hear from (lands, water, gender, East African community etc)
- Parliament is just an extension of state house. Always and gushingly toes the line
- Police and security forces never hesitate to use force on anything even hinting anti-government
- Disappearance and kidnapping of critics
- Unchecked public borrowing
- Dishing out of money to “support” the regime is normalized
- Political goons have made a triumphant return
- Forest and public land is being excised and allocated to dubious initiatives like “infrastructure”. What is the difference between a parking for Bomas from the national park and a 60 storey KQ from Uhuru park
- Functionaries and folks in authority publicly fawning over the president’s leadership, vision, wisdom, etc.
- State routinely implying that the freedoms the constitutions have grated Kenyans are in fact a favour from its benevolence
- Flagrant and unchecked corruption at such a scale we are increasingly numb
- Political appointments with zero attempts to even pretend merit, relevance and experience is a factor
- Subsumed and neutered an increasingly clueless official opposition
- Not the least bit interested in hearing from the public or even from professionals because it knows everything and knows best
Moi, if he was still here, would be impressed at how well his orphans have executed his playbook
On a serious note why do tax payers pay a comprehensive medical cover for leaders and the tax payers is condemned to meet his own healthcare costs? The system must fall… Kenyans deserve free healthcare services paid for by their tax money… it’s not a privilege to be only preserved to legacy politicians… that’s what Safina is advocating
I fear for this country more with each passing day. Not out of paranoia, but from a clear awareness of how much can go wrong if we continue on this path. The signs are there. The patterns are forming. And if we are honest with ourselves, we can already feel the weight of what is coming.
Kenyans must start taking politics and voting seriously, not as a seasonal activity, but as a responsibility that shapes every part of our lives. 2027 is not just another election cycle. It is a defining moment. Because if we remain casual, emotional, or easily distracted when it matters most, we will pay for it in ways that will not be easy to reverse.
I will tell you this for free. It will get harder. The cost of ignoring what is at stake will not be political. It will be personal.
"Corruption is a mischaracterization of public offences. Stop dressing up theft of public resources in sexy names like corruption. This is robbery with violence and the robbers should be jailed,"
~ Okiya Omtatah
@sholard_mancity The govt will keep on manufacturing laws and directives to get cash,
It's lawfare
The people need to insist that anything beyond taxation is strictly voluntary
If speeding causes injury , let the victim sue the perpetrator and the insurer.
I’ve been looking at some of the petitions in court challenging the new NTSA traffic camera fines system.
And it made me ask a simple question:
Does this country still have an Attorney General advising the government?
Because the legal problem with how this system was rolled out was visible from the start.
1)NTSA would detect the offence…
2)Then charge you (which is normally an ODPP function)…
3)Then determine the fine (which is traditionally a judicial function).
So one agency is investigating, charging, and punishing.
That structure was always going to raise constitutional questions.
A much safer route would have been simple.
First, bring a Bill to Parliament to amend the Traffic Act and formally anchor the camera system in law.
In that process, you clearly define the roles of NTSA, ODPP, and the Judiciary, include appeal mechanisms for Kenyans, and conduct proper public participation.
Once the legal framework is settled, then you roll out the technology.
When governments rush systems before securing them in law, the result is predictable:
Courts end up stopping the project.
So again I ask:
What exactly is the Attorney General advising the government on?
WAKI REPORT, TJRC REPORT, BBI, NADCO and before them the Goldenberg Commission, the Ndung’u Report on Land, the Akiwumi Report on tribal clashes, the Truth Justice and Reconciliation findings, even the post-2017 Handshake frameworks ; all of them talked about compensation of victims, restitution, and justice. Pages upon pages, volumes upon volumes, committees upon committees. Yet every report gathers dust on government shelves, while the victims remain buried in mass graves, their families still crying for dignity, and the perpetrators continue to dine in Parliament and Cabinet.
When concerns were raised about the legality of the so-called National Infrastructure Fund, the response from regime loyalists was predictable: insults, slogans, and the usual anti-intellectual hysteria. Substance was replaced with chanting. Oversight was dismissed as sabotage.
Now the Treasury Cabinet Secretary, John Mbadi, has effectively conceded that the entity he previously presented to Parliament as existing was never incorporated. Not registered. Not legally constituted. Not secured.
That is not a clerical oversight. That is a governance failure of the highest fiscal order.
You do not announce a Sh5 trillion financing vehicle larger than Kenya’s annual budget without legal personality, statutory backing, regulatory clarity, and risk containment structures