Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga has opened up on the recent Sh3 trillion budget that was unveiled by the Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich on Thursday.
Raila termed the 2018/2019 budget as 'unfriendly' but said he will give his full statement after ODM retreat in Mombasa which commences on Wednesday.
"We understand the buudget is not friendly to the common man but we are going to meet next week in Mombasa as a party and look into the budget and other issues," Raila said on Saturday, speaking at Bar Opuk Primary School in Bondo.
A section of MPs, both in the government and opposition, have criticised Rotich's estimates, saying the budget would make life difficult for the ordinary mwananchi.
"This is not a pro-poor budget. The heavy taxation will hurt the common person and act as a disincentive to those who want to start small-scale businesses," said National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale.
His Minority Leader counterpart John Mbadi also raised eyebrows over the budget, questioning how the taxation measures proposed by Rotich would finance the budget.
"This is a budget that cannot be financed. The government is either going to fail to implement its programmes or resort to another fresh borrowing spree," Mbadi noted.
Among the proposals by the CS that have left Kenyans furious are increased on taxes imposed on mobile money transfer services and kerosene.