NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 5 — Former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta has broken silence over the tax evasion debate putting the Kenyatta business empire on the spotlight.
In an apparent response to allegations by President William Ruto’s allies that businesses owned by the Kenyatta family had evaded taxes, the spouse of the country’s founding leader Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and mother to immediate former President Uhuru Kenyatta said the claims were baseless.
“There are procedures on matters taxes and one cannot avoid paying taxes because it is against the country’s law,” she said during the handover of a church in Malindi whose construction she aided.
“If all these reports are true then they should reclaim the money form the businesses,” she added.
In remarks delivered in Kiswahili, Mama Ngina appeared to suggest Ruto’s campaign to tame tax evasion was politically motivated.
“Why do they get excited when they mention other people’s names?” she posed.
At war with government
The remarks by Mama Ngina who has often kept away from the public limelight apart from her brief engagement at the beginning of her son’s presidential campaign in 2013 and in support of Raila Odinga’s 2022 bid caught many by surprise.
They also emerged days after the reorganization of VIP security provided to former senior public officials including his son, Uhuru Kenyatta.
While responding to a backlash from largely Azimio-leaning commentators, Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome said the changes were procedural.
He said an Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police leading Kenyatta’s detail was replaced with a Police Superintendent to align the team to the Presidential Escort Unit (PEU) which is let by an AIG.
Koome noted that retaining an AIG as head of Uhuru’s detail would strain PEU Command whose head, AIG Oloonkishu Yiampoy, Ruto elevated following his inaguration.
Yiampoy served as Ruto’s head of security during his tenure as Deputy President.
