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Parliament Votes To Double Fuel Tax
MPs Wednesday voted to double the value-added tax (VAT) levied on fuel to 16%. The increase in fuel tax will likely make communities and services more costly.
The Kenya Kwanza MPs pushed through the proposal, with 184 approving the clause within the new finance bill, while 88 lawmakers opposed it.
The government, looking to raise about 50bn Kenyan shillings from the additional tax, has defended the move as necessary amid a rising debt burden.
However, Opiyo Wandayi, the leader of the minority in the National Assembly, said the tax is punitive, terming the decision to push ahead with the fuel tax clause as “the saddest day in the history of this country”.
This week, Kenya’s parliament has been combing through clauses within the unpopular finance bill and considering and voting on amendments.
Besides the fuel tax, some controversial proposals include a housing fund levy to be paid by all salaried workers and an increase in taxes for social media influencers.
Oscar Sudi Forged Academic Documents— EACC Tells Court
Derrick Juma, an investigator from the EACC, Wednesday told Magistrate Felix Kombo of the Anti-corruption court that he visited all the schools Sudi claimed to have attended and interviewed the head teachers.
Juma was testifying in a case where Sudi had been charged with forging his academic documents and presenting a false declaration to the IEBC officials while seeking clearance from the IEBC and EACC to contest in the 2013 general election.
The investigator said that he visited all the schools Sudi allegedly went to and discovered that his name was not listed on any schools except a primary school in Eldoret.
Juma told the court that from the evidence gathered, Sudi did not sit for a KCSE exam at Highway Secondary, nor did he study at KIM, where he claims to have attained a Diploma in Business Management.
He said the certificates had the wrong secondary school name, and the index numbers belonged to another candidate. Also, the signatures on the school leaving certificate were faked.
“The only records we found of him being a student was at Luok Ngetuny Primary School, where the teachers confirmed that he enrolled in 1995 under the name Kipchumba Kipng’etich but that he exited the school at Class Seven,” Juma said.
“Even the postal address he indicated in the leaving certificate did not belong to the school.
“His name was not anywhere in the records in the schools and institutions he said to have attended,” he said.
In closing, the officer told the court that all the documents were forgeries.
“When Sudi met with myself and colleague Ngige on September 19, 2015, he uttered two false documents, one being a KCSE certificate allegedly issued by Knec, and a false document being a Diploma Certificate allegedly issued by KIM,” he said.
However, Thursday, Sudi dismissed the report. He added that he has managed to come all the way after dropping school and, therefore, he should be applauded.
“If I can manage to get this far just as class seven dropped out, then I deserve to be celebrated,” Sudi said.
KMPDC Suspends Hospitals Implicated In NHIF Scandal
The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) Thursday suspended all eight medical facilities identified by Health Cabinet Secretary Nakhumicha Wafula as having allegedly siphoned funds from the National Health and Insurance Fund (NHIF).
This is after an exposé revealed that several private hospitals are part of a syndicate working with unscrupulous NHIF staff to steal from unsuspecting citizens and the government of healthcare funds.
Addressing the media Thursday, KMPDC Chair Prof. Stanley Khainga said that the health facilities in Nairobi, Kiambu, and Nyeri counties will remain closed until the probe is accomplished.
Following CS Nakhumicha’s order, we, as KMPDC, wrote to those institutions and suspended their licenses,” said Prof. Khainga.
“This morning, we went there to make sure that they followed the decree, and I am happy to say that they have suspended operations and made arrangements to transfer in-patients to other facilities,” he said.
“We would also like to assure Kenyans that KMPDC is committed to protecting them from harm whenever they are receiving services and they are free. KMPDC is open to receiving their complaints to ensure that the medical practitioners who are treating them continue providing quality health services to them,” said KMPDC CEO Dr. David Kariuki.
Mother Gives Birth Aboard the SGR Train to Mombasa
A mother aboard Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway train from Nairobi to Mombasa gave birth to a healthy baby on Wednesdays. The mother was attended to by Dr. Indanyenyi Luseso, assisted by Fauziya Lugogo, a nurse at Kenyatta National Hospital. The two were passengers on board and were also helped by the train attendant, Mary Nyiha, Kenya Railways said.
“We are delighted to share a heartwarming story of a mother who welcomed her bundle of joy on board the Madaraka Express Passenger Service train to Mombasa,” KR posted on Facebook.
When the train arrived at Mariakani, the mother was rushed to Mariakani Sub County Hospital for further medical assistance.
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