A mwananchi budget by all means, but at what cost?

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich yesterday announced taxation measures that should immediately cut the cost of basic necessities like bread and ugali. The Budget was littered with measures to relieve the pain of ordinary Kenyans struggling to put food on their tables and to get by with the bare minimum.

Indeed, Mr Rotich's Sh2.6 trillion budget read like a 'mwananchi' budget. The scrapping of all duties and taxation on imported maize and wheat should result in significant cost reductions for the two basic commodities.

The expanded cash transfers to the estimated one million elderly citizens, most being vulnerable to starvation and disease, though populist, is a step in the right direction. Care for those who have served the country is a good gesture.

He didn't stop there; he dished money out to virtually all the segments of society - the youth, women, security, education, health and infrastructure all got something. Yet one cannot fail to notice the pressure to collect as much as it can spend.

That he will collect Sh1.7 trillion from taxpayers, borrow Sh524.6 billion and count on donors and the private sector to come in with close to Sh375 billion is the stuff of hope and faith. Not when policy doesn't seem to support wealth creation.

Rotich's proposed 50 per cent taxes on the booming gaming sector is quite radical.

Did he weigh the anticipated impact of such radical measures? Should he have considered a more moderate approach that takes care of the interests of a nascent sector that employs thousands of Kenyans and supports many other sectors?

Overall, the national budget was positive for the masses. Rotich must however take another look at the country's debt (is it sustainable?); efforts to seal the revenue leaks must be reinforced and corruption taps turned off.

Generally, the Government ought to stop throwing good money after bad and focus on providing a conducive environment for wealth creation that ensures a bigger cake is baked; a cake big enough to be passed around to everyone.