Makueni Senator Dan Maanzo says the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) Managing Director should be thrown behind bars.
This is after EPRA amended the Value Added Tax (VAT) requirement on fuel from 8% to 16%, which is in defiance of a High Court ruling that barred the implementation of the contentious Finance Act, 2023.
The court on June 30 suspended the implementation of the Finance Act, following a petition by Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah challenging the Act.
Maanzo who was speaking Sunday during a church fundraiser in Utawala, Nairobi County, termed the Act as a fraud and called for the arrest of the authority’s boss over contempt.
“The EPRA MD should be jailed for contempt of court in effecting price changes for fuel products,” said the senator, further accusing President William Ruto’s administration of not honouring the separation of powers in the constitution.
“We have challenged the Finance Act 2023 in court, it is a fraud and Parliament has become a rubber stamp.”
The review of fuel prices on June 30 has seen motorists in Nairobi pay a whooping Ksh.195.50 per litre of petrol, and Ksh.179.60 for diesel.
Senator Omtatah himself gave the EPRA management an ultimatum to obey the court order.
In a tweet on July 2, the Busia legislator said he spoke to EPRA’s Managing Director, notifying him of his intentions if the authority fails to comply with the court order.
“I talked to the MD @EPRA_Ke, we focused on the court orders that suspended the Finance Act and they gave an injunction against any part of it. Told him if they ignore, I’ll file contempt proceeding against them for disobeying court orders,” he wrote then.
Fuel prices remain at an all-time high following the review, while the High Court has extended conservatory orders suspending implementation of the Act to July 10, when the case petition filed by Omtata will come up for hearing.
