President Uhuru Kenyatta during a State of the Nation address at State House, Mombasa County/PSCU
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 14 – President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed Treasury to impose 16 percent Value Added Tax on milk products originating from outside the East African region.
Uhuru says said this will stabilise the price of milk locally as farmers continue to grow their yields.
“I direct the National Treasury to impose 16% Value Added Tax on milk imports from outside the East African Community which will protect the Kenyan consumer from illegal imports,” said Kenyatta.
He also ordered the release of Sh375 million to buy rice from Kano and Mwea for distribution to disciplined forces and boarding schools.
He further directed the Competition Authority of Kenya and the National Treasury to take decisive action to stop the illegal activities in the agriculture sector adding that revised regulations to be gazetted in two weeks.
Uhuru says the farmers, especially in the tea and coffee sub-sectors, have been experiencing poor returns brought about by corrupt leaders who manipulate the industry for their own selfish gains.
“The key concerns are low prices for tea, delayed payments and low initial payments by KTDA. It is clear that the governance of KTDA will require to be restructured if our farmers get more revenue to their tea sales,” said Kenyatta.
He said hi government is working to ensure farmers are well compensated as agriculture has the potential to be one of the major contributors to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with the highest number of employees.
“My government will direct its anti-corruption efforts against those managing the agricultural sector,” he added.
The President instructed that 50 percent of the money from tea sales must be given to farmers and the rest as bonus.
