By Epraim Njega
ERC has computed new fuel prices following the signing of the Finance Bill into law by the president.
The maximum price for petrol in Nairobi will be as I had earlier indicated KShs 116.9 per litre. Before the VAT a litre of petrol was retailing at KShs 113.73 as per 14th of August ERC prices.
This means the rise in price of petrol attributed to the VAT is only KShs 3.06 or a 2.7% rise in price.
This does not justify anyone raising the price of anything in the name of VAT. MPs messed up by making this VAT a big issue while it was a non issue.
This led to the passing of the new anti-adulteration levy of KShs 18 per litre of kerosene which will kill the poor. The price of kerosene will have risen by 71% since July 2017.
MPs also scrapped the KShs 1.5 Billion fund that was to provide subsidized LPG cylinders for the poor. Charcoal prices are at an all time high since the ban on logging.
Other devastating measures such as doubled excise duty on money transfer, financial transactions and data costs went through.
Most of our MPs are either economically illiterate or just plain stupid. How does a 2.7% rise in petrol price make you pass a 20% tax on money transfer and financial transactions or increase kerosene by 11%?
The stupid media has also turned this issue to be about petrol prices hence allowing the more oppressive measures to pass.
In the photo above Signing of Finance Bill 2018. Only one person is smiling. The rest know they are presiding over the signing of the death warranty on the economy. Kenyans should not be worried by what happened yesterday. Jubilee is trying to use shortcuts to fix the economy but it wouldn’t work. Soon we shall revisit this issue.
Jubilee blames devolution for spiraling expenditure. However one of the most shocking thing is that the salaries of the national government never reduced even after certain functions were devolved. In fact the salaries of the national government have been rising steadily over the years. See attached chart.
