Uhuru rejects proposed law on excise duty
President Uhuru Kenyatta at a breakfast meeting with a consortium of United States companies in conjunction with the Corporate Council for Africa on the sidelines of the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. President Kenyatta has rejected a proposed law meant to manage the collection of exercise duty until the National Treasury gives its input. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- The Bill was among those presented to the President for assent on September 11, the day he signed six Bills, five of which were intended to make it easy to do business in Kenya.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has declined to assent to a law meant to manage the collection of excise duty until the National Treasury gives its input.
Sources in Parliament told the Nation that the President had asked for more time to get Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich to scrutinise the changes made to the Bill before the House passed it on August 27.
The Bill was among those presented to the President for his signature on September 11, the day he signed six Bills, five of which were intended to make it easy to conduct business in Kenya.
The National Assembly resumed sittings on Tuesday, but Speaker Justin Muturi is yet to communicate to the House regarding the President’s decision on the Excise Duty Bill.
He would be expected to state the President’s reservations and recommendations regarding the rejected Bill.
The provision in the Constitution that a Bill that is not assented to within 14 days is automatically assumed to have been enacted has never been used.
Among the changes introduced in the Bill at the last stage was the manner in which cigarettes and other tobacco products are taxed.
In changes initiated by the Finance, Trade and Planning Committee, excise duty on cigarettes would be charged based on the nature of the cigarettes as opposed to the types and per kilogramme.
This was contrary to the system proposed by the Treasury.
