The Forum for Democratic Change has welcomed government’s move to increase the Pay as You Earn—PAYE threshold from 130,000 to 235,000 shillings.
Wafula Ogutu the party spokesperson says in the FDC manifesto they placed the threshold at 500,000 shillings. Ogutu however, says even though it is a good step that will see many low income earning families save money, government needs to increase the threshold to at least 250,000 shillings.
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Ogutu also criticized government’s new move to charge an 18 percent Value Added Tax on piped water. He says as opposition they are going to fight the charge and mobilise their colleagues in Parliament to fail the tax.
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They also noted that some pronouncements in Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka’s budget last week such as road works have been a ritual with trillions of shillings being allocated every financial year yet the roads are still impassable.
Ogutu says for the last two years government has been mentioning roads such as the Musiita-Namayuge-Namayingo-Lumiino-Busia road which in this financial year was dropped.
Among the roads to be constructed this year include Fort-Portal-Bundibugyo, Busega-Masaka, Nyakahita-Kazo-Kamwenge, Kawempe-Kafu, Malaba/Busia-Bugiri, Tororo-Mbale-Soroti, Mbarara-Katuna and Jinja-Kamuli among others.
Ogutu also added that government should have increased money allocated to agricultural production. Kiwanuka announced that government shall allocate 580 billion shillings of the 11.15 trillion shilling budget to agriculture but fell short of explaining the implementation.
Ogutu adds that in the last financial year, there was a special fund set aside to build five national food stores in five regions of the country, but it was not implemented.
The FDC advises that government should have focused on providing peasants with hoes and seeds and then provide district offices with tractors and train extension workers. Government said it would allocate 133 billion shillings for commercialization of improved seeds and planting material.
