The taxing matter of turning chicks into vegetable

By Peter Kimani

Kenya: I totally agree some county governments are out to “finish” some communities with unreasonable taxes. Unsurprisingly, the decision by the Kakamega County to tax Sh20 for every head of chicken has been met with a spontaneous cry that kuku tax is a blow to the very existence of Luhyas.

Reason: kuku are not reared for economic empowerment – kitega uchumi –  as one resident called it, but as a vegetable.

“Kuku ni mboga,” every other respondent was quoted as saying, which left no doubt that this was not a rehearsed response but common knowledge handed down from one generation to another.

Hence the question: How did fully blooded chickens turn into cold-blooded vegetables? If I remember right, Kakamega County is famous for hosting fighting contests between roosters, which attract men in droves, cheering their favourite cocks. If you think there is something cocky about that, better be reminded that this is also the region famous for bull-fighting.

Put another way, what merits interrogation is just how a species that produces roosters that draw men into the fighting arena can also be reduced to mboga for mass consumption.

But I’m also curious how tax officials are going to map out which chickens had had their taxes paid considering their rapid regeneration as well as limited lifespan.

And if tax is to be charged annually, then it would be tricky developing a tax regime for birds that do not live beyond one year, or even chicks that hatch within the financial year. Those are hardly mboga questions…