KENYA: CORD
has set up a clash with the Jubilee Government with planned amendments
to the VAT Act as Parliament reopens today after a one-month break.
On Monday, a parliamentary group meeting chaired by CORD co-principals Raila Odinga and Moses Wetangula in Nairobi endorsed the proposed changes to the Value Added Tax Act to address the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities.
The opposition lawmakers also took positions on controversial pending
business, including Kenya’s relationship with the International
Criminal Court, that are in conflict with those taken by Jubilee, ahead
of Parliament’s reopening this afternoon.
Given its minority in both Houses, CORD is working on a strategy to
set up proponents of the VAT Act against the public, hoping some Jubilee
MPs will buckle at the potential backlash.
CORD could also ambush their rivals in the House as some Jubilee MPs
have travelled to The Hague in solidarity with Deputy President William
Ruto, whose trial resumes today at the ICC.
“As Parliament reconvenes tomorrow (today) and in view of this grave
concern of the obvious Jubilee insensitivity to the high cost of basic
commodities, we will sponsor an immediate amendment to the VAT Act, to
expressly exclude basic items from VAT to cushion ordinary Kenyans from
their present suffering,” said Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba, who read a
statement on behalf of CORD.
The coalition has appointed a legal team chaired by Ruaraka MP TJ
Kajwang’, to fine-tune the proposals into a draft bill scheduled to be
tabled before the House Business Committee (HBC) next week.
Senators Mutula Kilonzo Jnr (Makueni), James Orengo (Siaya) and MPs
Davis Ochieng (Ugenya) and Peter Kaluma (Homa Bay Town) are other
members of the team.
They are working with a consulting firm of economic experts to identify the commodities that they seek to exempt.
New law
Among the commodities targeted include maize flour (unga), sugar,
processed milk, fertiliser, bread, farm implements and various medicines
and medical equipment, said CORD.
Seme MP James Nyikal, a former director of medical services, has been
tasked to identify the basic medical supplies, such as cancer treatment
machines and medicines, that were affected by the new VAT regime for
incorporation into the amendment bill.
“We are also working with some technocrats at Treasury who are
assisting us to identify what went wrong,” said Kajwang’. “We have a
skeleton bill which we are refining with the consulting firm and the
lawyers. We hope to table it before the HBC early next week.”
The HBC is the committee that schedules the House agenda.
This will open a fresh battlefront with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s
government that pushed through the VAT legislation, which drastically
reduced the number of items that are zero-rated. The intention was to,
among others things, raise an additional Sh10 billion in revenue for the
government.
A consumer rights lobby group called off protest demonstrations it
had planned to organise this morning outside the venue of a conference
on Kenya’s economic successes after meeting with Treasury officials.
The Consumer Federation of Kenya (Cofek) wanted to make its case
against the VAT Act heard by President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is scheduled
to open the high level meeting this morning. The conference is hosted by
the Treasury and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Cofek announced it is working with two MPs on proposed amendments to
the VAT Act. It has asked the President to order “drastic and urgent
amendments to the Act” by leaving out of the VAT bracket “all
foodstuffs, livestock feed, farm input products, agricultural machinery,
electricity and petroleum products, among others.”
Although President Kenyatta has in the recent past told off Raila
over his criticism of the VAT law, saying the Jubilee Government had
only completed a process initiated by the previous government for which
Raila was the Prime Minister, CORD yesterday signaled it would tap into
the rising public discontent following the sharp rise in prices
occasioned by the VAT Act.
The Resolution
Although CORD is a minority in Parliament, Raila said it is in the
best interests of the country to pass the amendments, as Jubilee cannot
afford to pass laws that hurt the common mwananchi.
Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati said CORD would take its campaign to the people.
CORD also reiterated that it would use “all means necessary” to block the Government’s attempt to pull Kenya out of the ICC.
Both the National Assembly and the Senate have endorsed the resolution to sever ties with the ICC.
The resolution asked the government to present a bill “within 30
days” to repeal the International Crimes Act, which domesticated the
Rome Statute that establishes the ICC. The bill is due in two weeks.
“We are strongly opposed to the Jubilee-driven, short-sighted move to
pull Kenya out of the Rome Statute. We believe this is a cynical move
by very well-known agents of impunity to roll back the country’s gains
in the fight against entrenched impunity,” CORD said.
CORD also said it would oppose two bills on the Kenya Police Service
that seeks to give more powers to the office of the Inspector-General.
The coalition said the attempt to weaken the National Police Service
Commission was a plot to take the country back to the days of an
imperial police boss.
The coalition demanded that the government releases all the funds held for roads to counties as stipulated in the constitution.
Guilty of complicity
“Class A, B and C (roads) belong to the national government while D, E
and F are under the county government. All the monies meant for the
county roads should be released immediately to the counties,” Raila
said.
The opposition also challenged the government to contain run-away insecurity in the country.
“We believe the cardinal duty of any government is to protect the
lives and property of all citizens. It’s now apparent that the Jubilee
government has miserably failed in this duty or it’s guilty of
complicity,” Ababu added.
By Geoffrey Mosoku, The Standard
