He does not wish to fault the zeal with which Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is working to meet its tax targets, but Dr Iddi W Abdallah in Kangundo thinks the taxman may have been unfair to him recently.

"I was shocked when KRA officials asked me to pay Sh13,651 in taxes after receiving a laptop gift (AWB No 5435123315) from a friend in Liverpool, England, on October 21," says Abdallah.

His gripe is that he has always been made to believe that all imported computers and their accessories had been declared tax-free by the Government. But Abdallah says when he made enquiries at the KRA customer care desk, an officer told him all computers manufactured three or more years ago attracted a 25 per cent duty.

This explanation, however, did not solve the puzzle, which he still hopes KRA will unravel. Abdallah believes it could be a case of "hidden taxes".

"The laptop in question was manufactured in January this year, which should have exempted it from the tax. I noted I was not alone in this dilemma as many friends later confessed they had been in a similar situation. KRA should come clean on this," he says.