Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu on Monday maintained that his colleagues in Parliament would back President Uhuru Kenyatta's proposal to halve the 16 percent VAT on all petroleum products.
Wambugu declared that by Thursday, it would be apparent that "Uhuru still runs Parliament".
The MP remained confident despite voices from both sides of the divide pledging to shoot down the 8 per cent levy and reduction of the Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) budget.
"Personally I’m 100% sure that parliament is not going to overturn this memorandum. What is going to happen is that there will be negotiations.
"On Thursday it is going to be clear that the president still runs parliament, it’s going to be clear that Jubilee is still one hundred percent behind the president and that we want him to implement the Big 4 Agenda," he asserted on a Citizen TV interview.
He noted that corruption had made Kenyans doubt the President's sincerity in the renewed fight against graft, acknowledging that taxes were not always spent prudently.
"Kenyans still do not believe we are fighting corruption despite the fact that the president has thrown every single thing he has at the fight against corruption.
"The fear is you take this 8% and then someone is going to walk out with it," he explained.
A kamukunji is planned for Tuesday morning by the lawmakers before the all-important afternoon debate.
Parliament will need at least 233 members to veto President Kenyatta’s proposals.
“If the President’s proposal on 8 per cent VAT on fuel passes the Assembly, Kenyans should blame their MPs. We cannot leave our people to suffer,” stated Kimilili MP Didimus Baraza.
