Former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta has broken the silence over the tax evasion debate putting the Kenyatta business empire in the spotlight. In an apparent response to allegations by President William Ruto’s allies that businesses owned by the Kenyatta family had evaded taxes, Mama Ngina 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.
The remarks by Mama Ngina who has 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.
