By Ghost Writer
Kenyan salaried workers are seeing their payslips shrink, one deduction at a time. Over the last few years, new and increased deductions have steadily crept in, first through the Housing Levy, then the Social Health Insurance Fund. Now, from this February, the pressure tightens further as the NSSF Act enters its fourth year of implementation.
Under the new thresholds, anyone earning above Sh75,000 a month will see their NSSF deductions rise again. Those earning just over Sh100,000 will feel it the most, recording the biggest relative jump compared to last year. This single adjustment translates into billions of shillings more flowing to the state every month. And that is before factoring in what Kenyans still pay from their net income through VAT, fuel levies, excise duty, customs charges, capital gains tax, and a long list of other indirect taxes.
Ask most Kenyans what they believe the country’s biggest problem is, and the answer is almost always corruption. The figures attached to corruption scandals are staggering, often running into the billions. For many, the discomfort is not purely about paying taxes. It is about what happens after the money is collected. There is deep frustration with how public funds are managed, and even more concern about how little accountability follows when things go wrong.
At the same time, the government has significantly sharpened its tax collection tools. The Kenya Revenue Authority now uses systems like eTIMS to track transactions with remarkable precision. Every sale, every receipt, every return is increasingly visible. In isolation, this is progress. But the imbalance is hard to ignore. The state has invested heavily in ensuring taxes are collected efficiently, yet far less energy seems to go into showing how those funds are safeguarded, spent, and protected from misuse.
This is where the media’s role becomes critical. As the public watchdog, the media is best placed to hold the government accountable by keeping the public informed, asking hard questions, demanding explanations, and persistently following up until those in power are compelled to answer.
To be fair, the media does several things well. It flags issues when they first emerge, whether it is a new corruption allegation, increased deductions, or the latest scandal. It also does a good job explaining complex policies and figures, often through infographics and explainers that help people understand what is changing and how it affects their daily lives. Current affairs and news programmes further enrich the conversation through interviews and debate. These are essential services, especially on issues that directly affect livelihoods.
However, given that most Kenyans rely on the media to understand taxation and the management of public funds, there is room to do much more. The biggest gap is follow-up. Reporting the breaking news is crucial, but without consistent follow-through, coverage becomes reactive. The public is outraged, then distracted, then presented with the next scandal.
One way to address this is through systematic tracking. Media houses could maintain updated records of major stories, particularly corruption cases, public fund losses, and large-scale tax collections. During elections, media outlets routinely deploy sophisticated dashboards to track results in real time. A similar approach could be applied to accountability reporting. Imagine trackers that show the status of active corruption cases, amounts lost or recovered, timelines of investigations, or how specific levies are collected and allocated.
Such an approach would not require media houses to work alone. Partnerships with civil society groups, data journalists, and accountability platforms could make this more sustainable. Given Kenya’s high internet and smartphone penetration, a critical mass of citizens would be able to access, share, and act on such information. An informed public is ultimately the strongest accountability mechanism, and the media is uniquely positioned to nurture that.
Applied to NSSF, this could mean a levy tracker showing where contributions are invested, what returns are being generated, and who benefits. It could include data on whether pensioners are being paid on time and how long claims take to process. That kind of information would allow the public to ask sharper questions and to call out delays and inefficiencies, especially in light of the state’s aggressive and efficient collection systems. If deductions are real-time and unavoidable, accountability should be just as visible.
