MPs in bitter exchange over new tax on fuel

Two senators engaged in a bitter exchange of words after an opposition lawmaker appeared to suggest that Kenyans deserved the 16 per cent Value Added Tax on petroleum products.

The senator said people were warned against voting Jubilee and thus should not turn around to protest the high cost of living occasioned by the new tax regime.

“Choices have consequences. When people voted Jubilee they were aware of these things,” said the senator.

But a Jubilee counterpart took offence with the remarks made during a committee sitting yesterday.

She demanded the withdrawal of the remarks through the committee chair.

The sitting burst into laughter when the impatient aggrieved member claimed that the committee chair was not in control of the session, in what forced the chairperson to instruct the committee secretariat not to include the exchanges in the Hansards.