National Assembly Finance and Planning Committee Chairperson, Kimani Kuria, on Friday, June 30, emphasised that the government will respect conservatory orders issued by the High Court, suspending the Finance Act, 2023.
Speaking on NTV minutes after Justice Mugure Thande issued the orders, the Molo MP added that the government will not review fuel prices with regard to the 16 per cent VAT on petroleum products.
"We respect the Judiciary and we expect the court process to take the lead. We are prepared for a court battle," he stated.
Kuria - whose committee is tasked with reviewing tax policies - maintained that they were considerate of all legal provisions when reviewing the Finance Bill, 2023 before it was tabled in Parliament.
He expressed confidence that their legal team would have the conservatory orders overturned.
The legislator indicated that they had anticipated the orders issued in favour of Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah and his co-petitioners.
"As a committee, we went through all court rulings and we made the decisions based on the previous clauses that were done and we ensured that everything was in order," he stated.
However, contrary to Kuria's promise, EPRA reviewed the fuel prices, increasing the prices of Super Petrol and Diesel by Ksh13.
In the review, EPRA announced that a litre of Super Petrol in Nairobi would retail at Ksh195.3, Diesel at Ksh179.67 and Kersosene at Ksh173.44.
The authority explained that the announcement was made following the increase of the Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel products from 8 per cent to 16 per cent.
The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has recalculated the maximum pump prices for the period between July 1 - 14, 2023.
President William Ruto is yet to comment on the matter.
