Impunity and indebtedness fuel fiscal crisis

Safaricom’s data and call price hikes announcement fuels anxiety at the rising cost of living after new taxes last month. As Government rams deeper into our pockets, we face a period of austerity in our homes, county and national economies. Our lifestyles are not the problem, the problem is we have allowed others to budget for us.

A battery of public taxes and levies have driven up the costs of essential commodities and services by between 10 and 15 per cent. The cost of living may have gone up by 50 per cent from last year. Fuel, electricity, telephone and Internet data, banking and money transfers and foodstuffs are spiking all around us. While this affects us all, it will have a distinct impact on poor families, the gap between the rich and poor will widen and the Bill of Rights could be placed on hold.