The introduction of a new raft of taxes in Kenya – including the doubling of VAT on fuel and a 1.5 % mandatory housing levy on salaried workers – has ignited a debate about the number of Kenyans in formal and informal employment.
In one post shared hundreds of times, social media influencer Cyprian Nyakundi claimed that Kenya’s health cabinet secretary Susan Nakhumicha Wafula lied on TV about the number of Kenyans in formal employment.
However, data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that 3.2 million people were employed in the formal sector in 2022 — a figure close to the one attributed to Nakhumicha Wafula.
“CS Nakumicha lied on TV that only 3 million Kenyans are formally employed. It’s astonishing that a high-ranking gvt official tasked with advising the president could have such inaccurate figures… (sic),”
reads a post from Cyprian Nyakundi published on X (formerly known as Twitter) on September 14,2023
The post has been shared more than 200 times.
Increased taxes due to finance bill
In recent months, the Kenyan government has increased taxes on a wide range of items to raise more revenue.
The hikes will see salaried workers in the country surrender nearly half of their monthly pay to the government in the form of a 35 % income tax for top earners, a 1.5 % housing levy, and a yet-to-be-implemented 2.75 % National Health Insurance Fund deduction.
Kenya’s Finance Bill passed this year increased the VAT (value-added tax) on petroleum from eight to 16 percent, boosted a business turnover tax from one to three percent and created a new 1.5 percent housing tax for salaried workers.
AFP Fact Check could not find any footage of Nakhumicha Wafula referring specifically to the size of the country’s tax base as claimed.
However, the health ministry told AFP Fact Check that “the minister has used that statement on many occasions in the recent past to show the government’s commitment to creating salaried job opportunities for the majority of Kenyans who do not have jobs”.
In any event, if Nakhumicha Wafula had claimed that Kenya’s formal labour sector consisted of three million employees, she would not have been far off the mark.
The accusation that she lied is therefore not true.
