Consumers will bear burden of packaging levy, Omtatah warns

Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah. [File, Standard]

Women and motor vehicle owners will be hardest hit by a new levy introduced by the Kenya Kwanza government, which will be paid by manufacturers, a court in Nairobi has been told.

Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah, Bernard Muchiri, Naomi Masati and Kelvin Saitoti, in their case before the Environment and Lands Court, argue that the cost of sanitary pads and car parts will shoot up if the government continues with its plan to have the new levy, which is meant to finance waste recycling and environmental conservation.

Omtatah, Muchiri, Masai and Saitoti argued that the levy introduced under the Sustainable Waste Management (Extended Producer Responsibility) Regulations, 2024, amount to double taxation as manufacturers and importers pay for environment conservation in their taxes.

“The introduction of this levy is expected to increase the overall cost of the affected products and packaging, a financial burden that will ultimately be passed on to members of the public, who are the end consumers,” the four argued.

The four sued the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), the Environment Cabinet Secretary, the National Assembly, Competition Authority and the Attorney General.

They claimed that the gazetted EPR is different from what had been proposed in the draft, which was published in 2021.

The court heard that the new EPR introduced a fee on all importers of finished goods under the first schedule. This fee, they said would be paid at the point of importation and directly wired to Nema.

“The gazetted version introduced, through non-transparent means, a significant provision with far-reaching implications not only for the affected industry stakeholders, but also for the wider public whose impact is profound,” they said in the case.

Separately, Green Thinking Action Party filed another case, claiming that increasing the Standards Levy was hurting the manufacturers.