This archive report was first published on 2 October 2019.
On October 2, 2019, the National Treasury made a promise that money remitted back to Kenya under the tax amnesty would be used to grow the economy. However, this promise is now coming to naught.
The Kenya Revenue Authority has revealed that it has lost track of the billions wired back to the country, which is worrying given that taxpayers had to forego huge tax revenue on the promise that the money would be deployed locally to create economic opportunities.
It is on this ground that the public accepted to allow the amnesty in the first place, and therefore the taxman must not stop at announcing that the money has vanished.
Kenya has been facing tough competition from her neighbours in the fight for foreign direct investment and foreign inflows, thus these remittances were supposed to buttress the country's inflows by acting as legitimate capital coming in to finance the economy.
The KRA must now go after the individuals who brought in the money and hold them to account to show how it is being gainfully deployed into the economy.
