The IMF’s Sick Obsession With Kenyan Taxes

I was walking down River Road yesterday morning. The air was thick with the smell of diesel and the sound of shouting hucksters. The energy in Nairobi is always high, but lately, the faces look different. They look tired. They look squeezed. I stopped to buy a newspaper and the vendor told me he might have to close shop. Why? Because the cost of doing business has become a joke. I could not lie to him. Things are getting worse.

Let that sink in for a moment. We are living in a country where the government works for Washington D.C. before it works for the people in Githurai or Kondele. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has set up camp in our National Treasury. They are not here to help us. They are here to make sure their pound of flesh is carved out before we even get to eat. Here’s the thing. Every time you see a new tax proposal, do not look at the local politicians. Look at the suits in the IMF offices.

The Puppet Masters in Washington

I have watched this script play out before. The IMF comes in with a “rescue package.” They promise to stabilize the economy. They talk about “fiscal consolidation.” But let me be clear. That is just a fancy way of saying they want to suck every last cent out of the Kenyan pocket to pay back foreign lenders. Think about that. We are borrowing money to pay back money we already spent on roads that are now crumbling.

When you combine 3.5 trillion shillings in external debt with a government that cannot stop spending, you get a disaster. The IMF does not care if you can afford milk. They do not care if your child goes to school with a full stomach. They only care about the balance sheet. They see Kenya as a spreadsheet, not a nation. They look at our VAT and see it as too low. They look at our income tax and see “room for growth.” It is a sick obsession.

I saw a report recently that suggested the IMF is pushing for even higher taxes on basic commodities. We are talking about bread. We are talking about cooking oil. These are not luxuries. These are the things that keep a family going. If the government follows through, we are looking at a total collapse of the middle class. I am angry because I see the betrayal. I see the people who were elected to protect us signing away our future for a few more years of high-interest loans.

The Tax Man Is Everywhere

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has become the most feared entity in the country. They are no longer just collecting revenue. They are hunting. They are checking your M-Pesa. They are looking at your social media posts. If you post a photo of a new car, they want to know where the money came from. But do they ask the same questions of the politicians driving 20 million shilling SUVs? No. Of course not.

Let’s look at the numbers. The government wants to raise an additional 150 billion shillings through new tax measures. They want to tax everything from digital assets to the very air we breathe. Here’s what needs to happen. We need to stop pretending that this is about nation-building. This is about debt servicing. We are working 18 hours a day just to send money to banks in London and New York.

I talked to a young tech entrepreneur in Westlands. He told me he is moving his business to Rwanda or Dubai. He said the tax regime in Kenya is designed to kill innovation. When you tax a startup before it even makes a profit, you are killing the future. Kenyans need to demand better. We cannot be the “Silicon Savannah” if the tax man is burning down the forest.

The Great Corruption Hole

Here is what really kills me. We are being told to tighten our belts while the elites are loosening theirs. I walked past a government office last week. The parking lot was full of brand-new luxury vehicles. Each of those cars costs more than what a village in Turkana earns in a decade. We are told there is no money for doctors. We are told there is no money for teachers. But there is always money for “hospitality” and “renovations.”

Think about that. The Auditor General keeps telling us that we lose over 800 billion shillings every year to corruption. That is almost half of our tax collection. If the government just stopped the stealing, we would not need the IMF. We would not need to tax bread. We would not need to beg for loans. But the IMF never makes “stopping corruption” a hard condition for their money. They only make “taxing the poor” a condition.

Why is that? Because it is easier to squeeze a “Mama Mboga” than it is to jail a powerful politician. The IMF is complicit in this theft. By providing the loans that allow the corrupt system to keep running, they are the enablers of our misery. I have seen enough. I have seen the way these deals are signed in dark rooms far away from the public eye. It is a betrayal of the highest order.

The Strengthening Shilling Lie

They told us the Shilling is getting stronger. They pointed at the exchange rate and told us to celebrate. But go to the supermarket. Is the price of sugar down? Is the price of fuel down? No. The Shilling is “stronger” on paper, but the reality on the ground is different. When you combine a manipulated currency with high taxes, you get a cost-of-living crisis that no amount of PR can hide.

I saw a woman in Toi Market crying because she could not afford the bale of clothes she usually buys. The import duties have skyrocketed. The “stronger” Shilling did nothing for her. This is the finance trap. The government uses these macro numbers to impress the IMF while the micro reality for Kenyans is a nightmare. I could not lie and say I see a way out under the current leadership.

We are being lied to daily. They tell us the debt is sustainable. They tell us the economy is growing by 5 percent. If the economy is growing, why are the shops closing? If the economy is growing, why are the youth fleeing the country in droves? Growth that only exists in a government report is not growth. It is fiction. And we are the ones paying the price for this bad story.

The Global Debt Trap

This is not just a Kenyan problem. It is a global game. The IMF and the World Bank are the tools used to keep developing nations in a state of permanent debt. They lend you money to build a bridge, then they charge you interest that you can only pay by taking another loan. It is a cycle that never ends. Look at what happened in Sri Lanka. Look at what is happening in Ghana. Kenya is next if we do not change course.

The global financial system is rigged against us. We provide the raw materials. We provide the labor. Then we buy back the finished products with money we borrowed from the same people who bought our resources for pennies. Here’s the thing. We are being recolonized through the pocketbook. Instead of a governor in a pith helmet, we have an IMF representative in a tailored suit. The result is the same.

I am tired of the excuses. I am tired of being told to wait for the “long-term benefits.” My stomach is hungry in the short term. My children need school fees in the short term. We cannot eat “future growth.” We need relief now. We need a government that has the guts to tell the IMF “No.” We need a government that prioritizes the person in the matatu over the banker in Washington.

What Must Change Now

We cannot keep going like this. The pressure cooker is going to blow. You can only squeeze a people so far before they have nothing left to lose. I have seen the anger in the streets. I have heard the murmurs in the bars. People are fed up. Here is what needs to happen to save this country from total financial ruin.

1. Demand an immediate audit of all public debt. We need to know exactly who we owe, what the money was used for, and who pocketed the change. If the money was stolen, the debt should not be paid by the taxpayers.
2. Stop all new tax increases on basic commodities. Bread, milk, flour, and fuel must be protected. The government should instead focus on widening the tax base by targeting the billionaire class that currently pays nothing through tax holidays and offshore accounts.
3. Reduce the cost of government by 50 percent. We do not need hundreds of CAS positions. We do not need massive travel budgets. We do not need a bloated parliament. Lead by example. If the people are suffering, the leaders must suffer too.
4. Renegotiate the IMF terms. Kenya is a sovereign nation. We should not be taking orders on our domestic tax policy from a foreign entity. We need to set our own priorities based on the needs of our people, not the demands of international lenders.
5. Protect the digital economy. Stop taxing the youth who are trying to make a living online. The internet is the last frontier for employment in this country. Do not kill it with greedy “digital service taxes” that make us uncompetitive globally.

Kenyans need to demand these changes. We cannot afford to be silent anymore. The finance of this country is being managed into the ground, and it is our children who will be digging the grave. Let me be clear. If we do not act now, the IMF will own every inch of this soil, and we will be strangers in our own land. Think about that next time you see your payslip and realize half of your hard work is going to pay for a loan that did nothing for you.