Cat lovers for Kenya capital don dey para on top di threat of wetin dem dey reason as “cat tax” wey e be like say goment wan introduce.
Any tok of tax for di East African nation now dey make pipo vex.
Di proposal dey come through di Nairobi City County wey want make all cats dey registered by dia owners – wey some don begin dey complain and see as “cat-astrophe”.
Cat owners for Nairobi go need buy annual licence – wey go cost 200 Kenyan shillings ($1.50; £1.20) along wit proof say di animal don receive rabies vaccination.
No be only dat, but “purrents” – as dem dey call cat owners – go need take responsibility for dia furry friend behaviour, and all of us know say cat no dey take direction well.
According to di city Animal Control and Welfare Bill, e say dem gatz make sure say dia pets no “shout or cry for manner wey go disturb di peace” of residents.
Dem go also need to confine cats wey dey on dia heat period.
How some Kenyans react to di proposed cat tax bill
Di proposed legislation na to improve cat welfare, but some city residents no gree, dem go need convincing.
Kenyans bin recently force di goment to withdraw one finance bill wey introduce tax hike – and some of dem see dis plan by Nairobi county as part of goment appetite to raise more revenue.
“First taxes on period products, now taxing cat owners. Leave my pussy alone!” Khadijah M Farah tok on X, she bin dey refer to di finance bill wey dem don scrap now.
Some Kenyans also don raise questions about how dem go enforce di tax, as e be, di population of stray or feral cats dey very high.
Dipopulation of felines for di city – lions for di Nairobi National Park no dey included – no dey known, but dem plenty: dem dey always waka for streets, enta pipo shops, and you go always see dem as dem dey hustle food for dirty bins and restaurants.
Di cries from various cats for different areas dey always disturb di silence of night, especially during dia mating season.
Naomi Mutua, wey get more dan one dozen cats and wey dey call herself Nairobi “mother of cats”, tell BBC say di county authorities suppose don check wit cat owners, rescue organisations and veterinary groups before dem come up wit di draft law.
She dey run one Facebook group of about 25,000 cat lovers and she say di introduction of mandatory rabies vaccinations for cats na good thing but question how dem go achieve am in reality.
About 2,000 Kenyans dey die every year from rabies wey dog or cat bites dey cause, according to di health ministry.
Ms Mutua say wetin any new law suppose first do na to improve di “standards of care wey dey lack”.
She wonder weda confining a cat wey dey on heat go be “restricting dem from dia natural behaviour”.
Di county dey organise one public consultation wey go start on Friday, 2 July.
City residents go fit give dia views about di bill – wey fit make di county assembly consider further amendments on di bill.
For di head of di Kenya Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (KSPCA), Emma Ngugi, di draft legislation na welcome move on top say animal welfare for di city na “huge problem”.
But licences, she feel say no be di answer as pipo fit no wan claim ownership of cats.
Some pipo fit throw way dia cats if dem dey forced to pay, and dis go defeat di purpose of di bill.
“If you introduce wetin be essentially a tax on cats, then e go dey even harder for organisations like us wey dey work for communities to get pipo to take responsibility,” she tell BBC.
Ms Ngugi also point out one law on dog ownership wey already dey ground, even dat one sef many pipo ignore am and dem no bother to get licences for dem – even those wey fit afford to do so.
Wetin be di proposed cat tax
Under di proposed bill, cat owners wey fail to comply wit di licensing and welfare standards go dey guilty of an offence and liable to penalties wey include jail terms.
“Nairobi cats dey restless. You no fit get Nairobi cats,” one panellist tok for one youth TV show ova di weekend.
But di KSPCA director say “di overpopulation of cats” na big issue, and di ones wey sick dey pose as risk to human health and di environment.
She go prefer make goment introduce low-cost veterinary services to those wey fit pay and mass sterilisation campaigns for stray cats and dogs – as di cost of sterilising a cat, for instance, fit be di same as one month salary for some Kenyans.
“Dat na proven methodology from all ova di world, and e dey work,” she tok.
For di meantime di bill don generate plenty reactions as pipo dey tok excitedly on di subject, one Nairobi resident even turn am to poetry.
For im “ode to cats for Kenya” on X, Innocent Ouko end im verse wit di words: “E be like say we dey for cat-ch 22 situation.”
- Why president Ruto refuse to sign finance bill wey cause deadly protest for Kenya
- Di Kenya tax proposals wey cause protests
- Gen Zs, di anti-tax revolutionaries and new faces of protest for Kenya
