VAT on fuel holds up after MPs walkout

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s eight per cent VAT on fuel will apply after opposition in Parliament failed to raise the requisite quorum.

The proposals contained in Mr Kenyatta’s memorandum on the Finance Bill 2018 were adopted after it emerged that there were only 215 MPs present in the House.

Parliament requires at least two-thirds majority or 233 of the 349 MPs to veto the President’s memorandum.

Several MPs walked out of the National Assembly chamber prompting the chairman of the Committee on the Whole House Soipan Tuya to order a recount to establish quorum.

The report on the memorandum was tabled by Kipkelion East MP Joseph Limo, who is the chairman of the Finance and National Planning Committee.

The House had voted to defer the VAT by another two years since it was passed in 2013 but the President disagreed and went ahead to slash it by half to 8 per cent, saying that the government badly needs revenue to finance its priorities.