Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1102478,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1102478/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 47,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Mbadi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. First, allow me to sincerely thank you very much for bringing the Petition that was forwarded to you by concerned Kenyans and also allowing Hon. Mule to bring a Petition. I thank Hon. Mule for taking up this matter. It is a clear demonstration that Hon. Mule knows what to do. I have seen many of my colleagues addressing this matter outside the precincts of Parliament even though we were on recess. The right place to deal with this matter is on the Floor of the National Assembly, not in funerals. Mourning and complaining with Kenyans is not helping them at all. I want to say a few things regarding this matter. It is true that Kenyans are really overburdened. By the way, all of us who have some background in economics and finance know very well that the moment you touch energy costs, it has a spiral effect on the economy and the overall cost of living will go up. That is what Kenya is facing at the moment. You are right to direct this matter to the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning as opposed to the Departmental Committee on Energy. The matters that we will deal with are about the pricing of the commodity which has a lot to do with some levies and taxes that go into it. I would like that Committee to be very careful and answer to certain issues. When you just talk about taxation, many Kenyans and even the petitioners are attributing the rise in the cost of fuel to the Value Added Tax, which is just a small portion of the cost. If you look at what 8 per cent would contribute to the overall cost of one litre of fuel, it is not so much. It is 8 per cent of the cost of petroleum products less levies such as the Petroleum Development Levy, excise duty and others. You will find that the 8 per cent is just on a figure of about Kshs50 or Kshs40 per litre. Therefore, the Committee must answer as to why the prices of fuel have risen in recent days. The VAT has been levied on petroleum products from 2018 to date. Therefore, the recent rise is attributable to other things. One of them is the depreciation of the shilling. The depreciation of the shilling has not been causing the rise because we have been supplementing or using the Petroleum Development Levy Fund, which has been like a reserve fund, to cushion consumers and it has been depleted. The question that Kenyans need to ask and this House will resolve is why we use the Petroleum Development Levy Fund to cushion Kenyans. Why not remove that levy from the cost of fuel, so that it is brought down? Those are the questions we expect the Committee to deal with. The Committee should not be lazy in just looking at the superficial VAT. They should go deep into all the levies that go into the fuel products and see if we need all of them. Some are The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}