MPs Riot in Parliament Over President Uhuru Kenyatta's Tax

Members of Parliament on Thursday rioted inside Parliament chanting to have 0% VAT on petroleum products.

The ‘Zero’ chants erupted as MPs shouted down National Assembly Minority Leader John Mbadi who supported President Uhuru Kenyatta’s tax proposals.

As he continued talking, the House erupted in screams of Zero! Zero!, temporarily disrupting the business.

Mbadi stated: "They are shouting zero instead of debating." His voice was drowned in the shouts of MPs opposed to the changes.

Ruaraka MP Tj Kajwang intercepted and temporarily managed to call the crowd to order by saying he is opposing the Bill as well.

"I rise to oppose this just before we vote. I want all members to know what they are voting for the value added tax on section five it says that if we give 8 per cent in the next one week, the CS will increase it by 25 per cent," Kajwang' remarked.

At some point, the MPs started to chant ‘Duale must go’ moments after he had made his submissions in support of the President's tax proposal.

Duale stated: "The moment we pass this 8%, the ERC as the body mandated, will do a calculation on how much the 8% the President is proposing, will be translated into other sectors of the economy."

The President's proposal to halve VAT on fuel to 8 per cent passed, as MPs fail to raise numbers to oppose the motion.

On Thursday morning the National Assembly slashed Ksh37.6 billion off the Ksh3 trillion national budget.

Notably, the most hit sectors included the ICT ministry which lost Ksh5.9 billion and the school laptop programmes whose allocation was reduced by Ksh5.5 billion.