MPs dismiss email submissions on Finance Bill 2025 as spam

National Assembly's Finance Committee Chair Molo MP Kimani Kuria (centre) flanked by Mangale Munga Chiforomodo (right) Lunga Lunga MP and Dr. John Ariko, Turkana South MP during the commencement of Public Hearings on the Finance Bill, 2025 and the Virtual Asset Providers Bill, 2025 at Edge Convention Center, South C Nairobi. May 22nd,2025 [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Members of the National Assembly rejected some of the views they received on the Finance Bill 2025 from Kenyans via email, dismissing them as spam.

The National Assembly's Finance and Planning Committee had been hailed as progressive for adopting a tech survey approach to receiving comments from Kenyans.

In addition to giving Kenyans the option of emailing their views on the Bill, the committee also had a virtual platform through which Kenyans could use a QR code system to submit their views.

Kenyans, mostly young people, could scan, access the Bill and forward their views. It would, however, dismiss many of the email responses, terming them as spam.

The Committee, in its report on the Finance Bill 2025 to Parliament, said it noted a huge number of emails it received on its address, as well as that of the Clerk, National Assembly, were spam, which contained the same message and ended up causing the system to crash.

It, however, acknowledged a huge online turnout of Kenyans in submitting their views on the Bill. "On Saturday, May 31, the National Assembly's official email address received an overwhelming number of emails that caused an overload on the system, which affected the system's responsiveness," said the Kuria Kimani chaired Committee in the report.

"The breach in the established system through interference with the official email addresses caused many emails to be received. The emails, which were mostly spam, contained the same words and content. These emails jammed the system and necessitated the email addresses to be disabled."

Among the emails that the Committee may have rejected as spam are those sent from a portal developed by activist Rose Njeri.

Njeri, a web developer, had created a website aimed at enabling Kenyans to submit their views on the Bill. On the portal, she pinpointed what she thought were the thorny issues and invited Kenyans to get on the portal and email the issues to the MPs.

She also gave them the option of adding more issues that they deemed problematic in the Bill. Through the website, users could submit their views on the Bill to the Clerk, National Assembly and Parliament's Committee on Finance and Planning at their email addresses.

Kenyans on social media platforms had noted that Njeri's platform could be seen as among those simplifying the public participation process. "I call for the withdrawal of this Bill as it is made in bad faith, ignorant of the current economic needs and political will of the people of Kenya," she said on the website in her call to Kenyans to send their views on the Bill to Parliament.

Revenue authorities

She added that the Bill would "entrench the abuse of power by the revenue authorities, a dubious attempt to sneak in tyranny, reinforce poverty, promote marginalisation and at the end of it will deny Kenyans the transformative agenda of Vision 2030."

Njeri was arrested and arraigned in court. She was charged with unauthorised access to a computer system. The charges did not hold water, and the court has since dismissed them.

The court said the accusations failed to meet the legal threshold to constitute a crime under the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act.

Despite her tribulations and her creativity being possibly cited as among those spamming the National Assembly's and the Committee's email addresses, some of the proposals she was rallying Kenyans to reject were dropped by the Committee in its report on Bill.

These include Treasury's proposal to give KRA powers to access trade secrets and personal data, as well as the attempt to reclassify zero-rated goods as VAT-exempt.

In rejecting the proposals, the Committee said the proposals granting KRA sweeping access to personal data for tax compliance purposes, particularly where trade secrets or personal customer data are involved, did not meet the threshold of Article 31 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to privacy.

It also said that the reclassification of certain supplies from zero-rate to VAT Exempt status defeated efforts to support local industries and reduce the cost of essential goods.

The Committee said, the goods that Treasury wanted to migrate from zero-rated to exempt hadbeen granted the zero rated, and a change would further project Kenya's tax system as unstable, which is bad for attracting investors.

"The Committee emphasised that retaining zero-rated status would uphold predictability and stability in the tax system, key elements in creating a favourable business environment. Consistent tax policy enables businesses and investors to plan with confidence, make long-term commitments and contribute effectively to the country's economic development."

The committee, in its report, said it received 164 submissions by email, which rejected the restructuring of VAT zero-rated and exempt status and the plans to impose excise duty on digital lenders.

Another six email submissions opposed the proposal to give KRA access to trade secrets and personal data, and another 18 Kenyans wrote emails to the committee rejecting the Bill in its entirety. It also noted that another eight Kenyans had supported the bill in its entirety through email submissions.