Renowned economist Kwame Owino has warned against President Uhuru Kenyatta's latest approach towards solving the nation's current financial shortage troubles.
Speaking at a Nairobi hotel on Tuesday, Uhuru directed the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to come up with other means of collecting and administering more revenue.
He also called for the review of tax laws, directing KRA, Treasury and the Attorney General to draft a bill and submit it to the cabinet to facilitate reforms that will help tap in more tax.
"KRA must be empowered to impose greater accountability in terms of fines and liability, for taxes with respect to professional advisers and agents, who provide assistance for or enable the deliberate non-payment of taxes,” he said.
However, Kwame has warned that the new avenues should not include pulling more money out of firms in taxes, saying that this will not do the trick.
According to the economist, Uhuru appears not attentive to what is going on around him, suggesting that the leadership will have to come up with other avenues of solving the problem.
"If the president thinks that the trick to getting out of this fiscal mess is by squeezing more taxes out of firms, then even he is not paying attention. There is no financial manouevre out of this!" he wrote.
His warning against over taxation comes at a time when some firms have been seen leaving the country, among them betting firms SportPesa and Betin.