Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has assured Kenyans that the government is not introducing any new charges on money transfers through MPesa, amid growing public concern over proposals contained in the Finance Bill, 2026.
Mbadi said the government’s target is not ordinary mobile money users but foreign-owned digital card service providers earning income from Kenya without paying taxes locally.
“We are not introducing any other extra charges that are going to affect money transfer through MPesa,” Mbadi said.
The CS revealed that Treasury officials held discussions with Safaricom last Friday to address concerns surrounding the proposed taxation framework and to assure the telecommunications giant that MPesa transactions are not being targeted.
“We sat with Safaricom last Friday, we discussed this, and they have understood very clearly that the platforms we are targeting are these card providers, these people who provide the platform for doing business,” he explained.
Mbadi pointed to international card payment companies, claiming many of them benefit from Kenya’s growing digital economy without directly contributing taxes to the Kenyan government.
“For example, I have a Visa card in my pocket. I use that Visa card. The bank that gives me the Visa card pays the owner of that platform, and most of them are not even Kenyans,” he said during an engagement forum with a section of Nairobians at Jevanjee Gardens while clarifying controversial tax measures in the Bill.
“That person pays no tax to the Kenyan government, and that is what we are saying is not fair.”
According to the CS, the Finance Bill seeks to close loopholes that have allowed foreign digital service providers to generate revenue from Kenyan transactions without falling clearly within the country’s tax framework.
He argued that local businesses and Kenyan taxpayers should not shoulder the entire tax burden while multinational digital payment firms continue earning from local consumers tax-free.
“If a Kenyan here would be paying taxes, then those who are benefiting from business in Kenya and supplying these cards should also pay tax,” Mbadi stated.
The clarification comes after widespread public debate and social media criticism suggesting that the Finance Bill would introduce additional levies on MPesa and other money transfer services.
Treasury officials have maintained that the proposed changes are aimed at digital service intermediaries and payment processing platforms rather than ordinary consumers making transactions through mobile money.
Mbadi acknowledged that some banks had raised concerns over existing contractual agreements signed with international card providers, some of which reportedly contain clauses shielding the firms from additional taxes.
“There is concern with the banks because they already signed some contracts and locked agreements that there should be no tax,” he said.
However, the CS assured financial institutions and consumers that the Treasury would engage banks administratively to ensure the new measures do not negatively affect customers.
“We told them that it is procedural, that it is administrative. We will deal with that between us and the banks to ensure no one gets hurt and that the same is not passed to consumers,” Mbadi said.
