Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has spoken on the number of advisors assigned to government officials amid public concern over the size of President William Ruto’s advisory team.
Speaking during a forum on Monday, June 9, Mbadi stated that Cabinet Secretaries across government, including himself, are limited to only one advisor, a policy that has been uniformly applied.
“Each Cabinet Secretary now including myself has only one advisor and that is implemented uniformly across the government. They used to be two, now it is one,” he said.
On the issue of Ruto's advisors, Mbadi said that such appointments fall outside his jurisdiction, noting that he has no powers to control the number of the president's advisors.
“If you are talking about the President’s advisors, how do you want me to sack those ones? The only thing I can do is you can ask me to go and maybe advise the President to reduce the number of advisors. I am the primary advisor to the President on economic and financial matters,” he added.
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At the same time, Mbadi dismissed widespread claims circulating on social media regarding the contents of the Finance Bill 2025, terming them as misinformation crafted to mislead the public.
He assured Kenyans that key food commodities such as bread, milk, and maize flour have not been targeted for new taxes in the proposed legislation.
“In the Finance Bill that is before the National Assembly, there is nowhere in that bill where we are putting VAT on bread, milk and unga are not even mentioned. That bill that is being talked about on social media is not my bill; it is a bill that is manufactured by the opposition and you seem to have bought it.
"I heard that we are going to tax newborn babies, that is a propaganda bill,” he stated.
Further addressing tax concerns, Mbadi clarified that there are no new levies being introduced on scrap metal dealers and explained the rationale behind changes in tax classification for items such as electric bikes and mobile phones.
“We are not bringing any new tax on scrap dealers. On e-bikes and mobile phones, we are not subjecting them to VAT, but we are moving them from zero-rated to exempt. The reason is simple: our tax policy is to discourage the zero rating of commodities.
"The people who are creating this fear among Kenyans are people who have, over the years, stolen public money by making claims at the KRA,” he noted.
