Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa has affirmed that Members of Parliament will not approve President Uhuru Kenyatta’s proposal to reduce the VAT on petroleum products and maintained it must be done away with completely, “As MPs we are going to shoot down the proposal from the executive and we are not going to do any amendments. We’ll bring it down as it is,” he said. Speaking to the press in parliament, Didmus said Kenyans are already overtaxed and as parliament, they shouldn’t accept any other increase in tax.
On Friday, President Kenyatta revealed that he had rejected the Finance Bill 2018/2019, which sought to have the 16% VAT on petroleum products suspended for a further two years and had it sent back to parliament with further proposals. The tax had initially been suspended in 2016, and the President termed the latest decision by MPs as “good politics, bad leadership.” He said more funds are needed to support the new constitution and devolution. MPs will have a special sittings on Tuesday and Thursday to deliberate on the President’s proposals.
However, the Kimilili MP has said if the government has no money to fund activities then they should drop one of the Big Four Agenda targets, “Agenda number four on housing should be removed because it won’t benefit all Kenyans,” he said. He added that the economy of the country has already collapsed and the agriculture sector, which is the country’s economic backbone, has been affected.
Contrary to popular notion, he said he fuel VAT hasn’t been reduced from 16% to 8% but it has been increased from 0% to 8%. “Time has come as the parliament of Kenya, which is a civilian oversight institution, we must speak on behalf of Kenyans, we must support Kenyans.” The Kimilili MP insisted that the lives of Kenyans must be improved, coupled with the economy before other taxes are imposed.