[kictanet] [Skunkworks] Are we letting the PS get away with this too?

[Odhiambo Washington]

On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 11:42 AM, [Brainiac] <arebacollins at gmail.com> wrote:

> I seriously hope that this http://bit.ly/famTA5 is just some fanatical
> reporting at Nation Media (would not be shocked) but if so, if these words
> came out of your mouth bwana PS,
>
> THAT THE PRICE WARS IN THE MOBILE INDUSTRY MIGHT DERAIL THE NEW
> CONSTITUTION.
>
> Are you for Real? Is that not cartel behaviour right there? So now what,
> are you going to "adjust" the lowest interconnection fees upwards to
> normalize all this? so that what? Safaricom can make more money?
>
> Playing on the public with FUD now? what happened to market forces? who
> would run their company to a grind just to offer the cheapest?  Revenue
> collection? how about we first spend PRUDENTLY what we collect? how about
> ALL of us pay taxes for starters? and why not just LOWER taxes and increase
> the tax bracket?
>
> I have never been disappointed like i have on reading this.
>

On that article, the PS simply failed to reason like a technocrat. I am not
sure what "hat" he was wearing when he said that.
Quoting him:
<Quote>
"Citing the Kenya Revenue Authority’s recent failure to meet its 2010/11
first half collection target by Sh5 billion, the PS said the
Airtel-triggered price war could not have come at a worse time.
<Quote>

5billion is just 1billion more than the taxpayers money that (part of) the
cabinet wants to spend on Mr. Francis Muthaura and Major. Gen. Hussein Ali
on the Hague case. Talk of the govt paying for lawyers to defend its illegal
actions.

I saw the Safaricom CEO on TV last night trying to persuade the govt from
allowing Airtel's action, saying it will make the mobile industry
unsustainable, leading to the govt losing on taxes. He emphasized that by
saying that Safaricom is the leading taxpayer.

I see a conspiracy between Dr. Ndemo and Safaricom's CEO to stop mwananchi
from enjoying lower call rates! How does "on-net" call tariffs within Airtel
affect their bottom line? Are they scared of competition?

Anyway, back to the revenue bit: The govt already overtaxes Kenyans and we
cannot use the mobile industry income as an excuse to not let wananchi enjoy
cheaper call rates. Think of this. The govt imposes punitive taxes on used
car imports in order to discourage dumping. The same govt does not see any
reason to reduce takes on new car imports! So you pay higher taxes for a
used Toyota Wish, but even higher when you bring in a new one from the show
room in Japan! Does that make sense?
All employed persons contribute at least 30% of their salary to the govt in
the form of PAYE.

Kenyans are dying of hunger. Powerful govt delegations then tour the
affected areas "to assess the famine situation" (Daily Nation of 20110114,
Pg. 8). Quantify how much they spent on this trip versus how much, if any,
they gave to the dying Kenyans in the form of food relief. Are there no govt
officials in those areas to give reports? (DC, DOs, District Committees).
This is sheer wastage of revenue, yet the govt wants more revenue by taxing
Kenyans more??

In this particular case, Dr. Ndemo should give us another, and better
reason, why call rates should not go lower, not the excuse about govt losing
revenue, thus derailing the implementation of the new constitution.

-- 
Best regards,
Odhiambo WASHINGTON,
Nairobi,KE
+254733744121/+254722743223
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Damn!!
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