The civil society organisation, on Monday, April 14, issued fresh demands to the Kenya Kwanza government following a meeting concerning the drop of the Kenyan civic space rating from obstructed to oppressed.
In a barrage of demands in several sectors, including public finance accountability, the CSOs demanded, among others, that the government remove taxes from essential goods like food, medicine, education materials, and electricity.
According to the statement, this tax exemption would reduce the cost of living for ordinary Kenyans. They also called for the cessation of double taxation for similar reasons.
"All taxes on essential goods and services—including food, medicine, education materials, and electricity—must be removed to reduce the cost of living and uphold the right to life and dignity," part of the statement read.
"Double taxation must end, and punitive taxes introduced under the Ruto regime, including the Housing Levy and other unjust fiscal policies, must be repealed."
Secondly, the society demanded that Kenya re-engage its programme with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF's) Extended Fund Facility instead of costlier domestic and commercial external loans.
"Given our economy's critical condition, re-engage the IMF programme to access lower-cost financing and restore much-needed external discipline," the statement read.
Kenya exited the programme during the final review after the IMF issued several conditions.
Other demands under this sector included stopping all legislative amendments that weaken the debt anchor and prioritising external and concessional borrowing.
Strengthening the Parliament's and the Auditor-General's oversight, which mandates that every loan and deficit variance be publicly explained and justified, was also highlighted.
The organisation also called for reinforcing devolution by fully funding counties through equitable share transfers and decisively confronting graft in public offices.
The latter, they noted, could be achieved by unseating officials caught engaging in graft cases and not allowing them into other public offices.
"Leaders who cannot tackle the most pressing issue of our time should vacate office and stop recycling unethical individuals into public service," the demands concluded.
