THE PETITION OF THE CONSUMERS FEDERATION OF KENYA (COFEK) MADE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF KENYA ON TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 H.E Uhuru Kenyatta, President, Republic of Kenya Hon William Ruto, Deputy President, Republic of Kenya Hon Justin Muturi, Speaker, National Assembly Mr Henry Rotich, Cabinet Secretary, The National Treasury Mrs Christine Lagarde, MD, International Monetary Fund Mr Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Food AWARE of the provisions and rights of Kenyan citizens to make this competent petition within Articles 1, 10, 37, 43 and 46 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 to various authorities APPRECIATING that there is nothing wrong with informed tax reforms which secure stakeholder consensus and for purposes of raising national revenues to support the budget CONCERNED that the current Sh1.6 trillion Kenya budget on public expenditure is anchored on a weak and speculative revenue base as informed by a huge deficit of over Sh300 billion REALIZING that the FY-2013/14 budget is largely premised on meeting non-priority expenditures revolving around Jubilee Government manifesto against pressing public needs such as access to food. UNDERSTANDING that the President and MP’s swore to protect the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and wellbeing of the Kenyan people from all forms of aggression, internal and external NOTING that Value Added Tax Bill 2013 threatens Kenya’s sovereignty, food security, economic growth, political stability as well as drastically reversing the gains on lowering the cost of living COMMITTED to rescuing millions of the poor and the voiceless from hunger and achieving socio-economic rights for all OBSERVING that there is no morality left for government to over-tax the very poorest of the poor to support the many luxuries and living too large SUPPORTED by the fact that only local solutions to local problems will assure a sustainable socio-economic development of the Kenyan people, Cofek and partners hereby petition the addressees as follows; We reject the oppressive and retrogressive Value Added Tax Bill 2013 in its entirety. We demand for full and unconditional restoration of tax exemption on food, medicine, farm inputs and other essential foodstuffs, processed or raw. We demand for retention of tax exemption status for the disabled and physically handicapped persons as well as make deliberate attempts for targeted and realistic subsidies for products mostly utilized by the poor We reiterate that taxing food and other essential commodities will have an immediate and spiral adverse effects to other key sectors such as education, where school fees for instance, will immediately go up for schools, colleges and universities providing meals to pupils and students We note that since the offending VAT Bill is alien to Kenya, its’ interests and negates the spirit of public participation under Article 10, it must be immediately committed to public scrutiny through the Parliamentary Finance Committee public hearings at all 47 Counties. Notwithstanding the output of such consultations, the Bill will need to be put to a public referendum as it requires amendments of various parts of the Constitution for it to be admissible in its current form. We note that since the intention of the Bill appears to raise Sh10 billion, the same can be made available by cutting luxury budgets numerous non-priority expenditure We further note that imposition of tax on basic goods on the majority poor will erode the quality of life for Kenyans as well as lower public confidence in the public sector reform process Given the skewed implementation of Kenyan policies and flourishing economic and political cartels in Kenya, enactment of the VAT Bill in its’ current form will lower economic production, hike the cost of living, cut employment levels, fuel more poverty and crime. Eventually it will combine to making Kenya a truly failed state -beginning with withdrawal of foreign direct investments and inability to feed its own growing and desperate population. We caution that implementing the VAT Bill will be unconstitutional as it is an affront on Articles 1, 10, 35 and 43. Why? First, Kenya is a sovereign state and will not be pushed by the IMF; second, public participation was denied on this Bill which adversely impacts tens of millions of the poor; Third, increasing the cost of newspapers and other media items will deny the public access to the information in public interest and finally, on Article 43, any government worth its salt will not dwell on the rhetoric of so-called free laptops without freeing its people from hunger. We are warning those who care to listen carefully that Kenyans will closely watch MPs who either vote for the Bill in its’ current form, abstain or fictitiously absent themselves from parliament during discussions on the VAT Bill 2013. We remind them that their choices will certainly have immediate and definite legal and moral consequences We will petition the Judiciary with a view to finding the resultant legislation unconstitutional should Parliament ignore the public outcry and side with the IMF and not the people of Kenya. That we urge the National Treasury Secretary Mr Henry Rotich to resign from office for keeping the Bill from the public; issuing conflicting information to the public on the Bill and failing on various thresholds of the Article 232 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 on Values and Principles of Public Service. We particularly wish to remind Mr Rotich that he has misled the President. We are disappointed that even after coming from a humble background, he has failed the moral test of turning his back to the poor. We will also vigorously collect signatures from Kenyans to overturn such a decision should this misinformed and alien Bill come to pass Signed: Stephen Mutoro, Secretary General, Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek): July 2, 2013
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 07:25:11 +0000
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