Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has dismissed reports that the 2025 Finance Bill includes the introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) on basic food items such as bread, milk, and maize flour.
Speaking during a town hall meeting in Kibera, Nairobi, on Tuesday, Mbadi described the claims as propaganda orchestrated by the Opposition to mislead the public.
“Unfortunately, you are addressing a propaganda Finance Bill, not the one before the National Assembly. In the Finance Bill currently in Parliament, there is no provision applying VAT to bread, milk, or unga,” Mbadi stated.
He added that what was being circulated on social media did not reflect the contents of the actual Finance Bill.
“That bill that is being talked about on social media is not my bill; it is a bill manufactured by the Opposition,” he said.
Mbadi also addressed widespread claims that the government planned to raise VAT from the current sixteen per cent to eighteen per cent.
“There is no time that the government of Kenya has thought of increasing VAT from sixteen per cent to eighteen per cent. So I just wanted to assure you,” he clarified.
He further refuted reports that the government intended to tax neonatal care or newborn babies, describing such assertions as completely false and aimed at creating public panic.
“These are all propaganda tactics meant to mislead Kenyans and stir unnecessary outrage,” Mbadi stated.
His remarks come amid increasing public anxiety over the contents of the 2025 Finance Bill, with concerns reminiscent of last year’s anti-Finance Bill protests. In 2024, Kenyans took to the streets to oppose new tax measures, but despite strong public resistance, Parliament passed the proposals.
Drawing lessons from those events, Mbadi urged Kenyans to seek factual information and read the actual contents of the Bill before forming opinions.
“I want to just plead with you—this country belongs to all of us. Even if we want to criticise the government, let us do it with facts. Let us not peddle propaganda to create distortion,” he said.
