The Kenya Revenue Authority has once again proven how far removed it is from the lives of ordinary Kenyans. At a time when the country is struggling with high unemployment, rising cost of living, and political instability, KRA has decided to flood Kenyans with cold, system-generated text messages accusing them of unpaid taxes.
These messages, which include exact figures and the threat of a looming deadline, have left many confused, angry, and afraid. While KRA claims this is part of a tax amnesty program meant to help Kenyans clear old debts without penalties, the way this has been handled is nothing short of reckless and insensitive.
For a government agency that claims to care about compliance and trust, KRA’s strategy is doing the exact opposite. People are receiving messages saying they owe amounts as random as KSh 900 or even over KSh 20,000, yet most of them don’t even remember having any pending obligations.
To make it worse, there’s no option to reply, and no clear explanation is given in the message itself. Just a demand for payment and a deadline of June 30, 2025. This is not how you promote voluntary tax compliance. This is how you intimidate and push citizens further into mistrust of government systems.
Online, Kenyans are venting. A post by Boss Yator captured the feeling perfectly when he asked whether these were despotic scare tactics or genuine reminders. Comments flooded in from people who received the same messages without having any tax dealings at all.
Some even said they had filed returns and still got the alerts. It’s clear there’s a system error or, even worse, a total lack of data verification.
Yet KRA continues to pretend everything is fine because the messages “match their official contact number.” That alone doesn’t make it right. That just shows how bad the communication is within the agency.
What’s more worrying is the timing. Why now? Why is KRA pushing these texts so aggressively when the public is already angry about taxes and government wastage?
Why is it that KRA can afford to pay for mass text campaigns but not invest in better customer support or transparent communication? Many now believe this is nothing more than a distraction, another poorly timed PR stunt by an institution out of touch with reality.
Has KRA become so desperate for collections that they are willing to traumatize citizens with random accusations?
Even if the tax amnesty program is legitimate and backed by official guidelines, the way it has been communicated is completely unacceptable. Not everyone checks the KRA website every day. If you’re going to contact citizens, explain clearly, personalize it, and offer a way to verify or dispute the claim. Don’t just throw numbers at people and expect them to comply out of fear.
That’s not public service it’s extortion masked as formality.Kenyans deserve better than a tax agency that behaves like a debt collector with no heart.
KRA needs to urgently rethink its strategy. It must stop relying on bots and bulk messages and start engaging with real people with real concerns. This issue is not just about unpaid taxes it’s about how citizens are treated by the institutions meant to serve them.
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