Cord leader Raila Odinga believes the 2016/17 budget that was tabled recently in Parliament by Treasury CS Henry Rotich would be used by Jubilee government to campaign for the 2017 polls.
The government had prepared a Sh2.3 trillion budgetary estimates in which the country is expected to borrow Sh775 billion to sustain it.
But Odinga questioned the authenticity of the budget saying it would overburden ordinary citizens through taxation and international borrowing.
“They read a huge budget that we cannot be able to sustain as a country. The rate of borrowing is high and this risks singling our country in the near future,” he said.
“They are basically looking money for 2017 campaigns because we have seen them previously operating with a huge budget with minimal impact on the ground. This budget is unfriendly and as the opposition, we will do our part in the august House to amend a few expenditures that we think are unnecessary,” he said.
Odinga demanded a reduction in prices of basic commodities such as paraffin and flour, saying ordinary Kenyans would struggle to sustain themselves through the next one year.
“I heard that the cost of paraffin is has gone up and we are already dealing with the high cost of maize flour. These basic commodities should have low prices for the sake of ordinary people. We cannot allow the government hid in budget to make money for 2017 campaigns,” he said.