Page 5 - DMEA Week 40 2021

DMEA COMMENTARY DMEA

withdrawals from PDLF. “The two laws [Muia] firms. These documents appear to show that
has cited – they don’t grant him the authority to Kenyatta and several members of his family,
divert the PDL funds,” he declared. “This is a bla- along with many other powerful and wealthy
tant mishandling of government resources, even individuals from around the world, hid huge
against the constitution.” amounts of money and assets in offshore tax
Ndirangu was speaking just a day after havens.
Andrew Kamau, the principal secretary of Ken- Kenya’s president has yet to issue a formal
ya’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mining, criticised statement on the Pandora Papers. He did prom-
the government’s failure to establish a set of legal ise earlier this week, though, that he would
standards and procedures to guide the manage- “respond comprehensively” after wrapping up
ment of PDLF’s balance. state visits to neighbouring Ethiopia and several
“The Petroleum Development Levy has Caribbean states.
been there since 1991, [and] the tax payers have He also said he expected an upcoming inves-
been contributing to it since 1998,” Kamau told tigation of the leaked documents to “go a long
the finance committee, according to a separate way in enhancing the financial transparency and
report from Capital FM. “It [would] be errone- openness that we require in Kenya and around
ous to term it as a fund, since it has no board of the globe.”
directors due to lack of legal framework.” Meanwhile in Nairobi, other members of
Stephen Mutinda Mule, an MP from Matun- Kenya’s government have dropped hints that
gulu, also raised questions about accountability fuel subsidies may return in the near future.
for PDLF’s receipts at the finance committee Fred Matiang’i, who serves as the “super-minis-
meeting on September 29. “You mean for 20 ter” of Kenyatta’s cabinet, said on October 3 that
years Kenyans have been contributing to this the government intended to launch “an aggres-
levy, and we don’t know where the money is sive programme to reduce the price of fuel and
being kept,” Mule said incredulously. “For a electricity” this week. He was speaking the day
whole 20 years?” after Raila Odinga, the head of the Orange Dem-
ocratic Movement (ODM) party, said that Nai-
What next? robi would take action on fuel prices within the
Kenyans’ trust in the government has been next few days.
shaken over the last year and a half, not least It’s not exactly clear yet what the government
because of the damage that the pandemic did intends to do. Mule has suggested that Nairobi
to the East African country’s economy. As such, authorise a number of tax cuts in the fuel and
the news about the diversion of PDLF’s money is energy sector, including a reduction in petro-
likely to shake that trust further. leum product VAT rates to 8%. However, the
Moreover, the information is coming to light Treasury Ministry has argued that the tax regime
at an unfortunate time. Within the last week, should not be changed, especially since fuel
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has been prices are rising in responses to external factors
identified as one of the prominent public figures such as higher crude oil prices.
named in the “Pandora Papers,” a collection of In the meantime, then, Kenyan consumers’
nearly 12mn leaked documents from financial frustration is likely to continue mounting.™

Week 40 07•October•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P5