This VAT on petroleum products story is one entirely of our own making, through our fiscal indiscipline, and inability to fix our own messes without relying on other people's money to bail us out, albeit, temporarily.
Let's go back to 2011. @UKenyatta is Finance Minister. Prof. Njuguna Ndungu is the Governor over at @CBKKenya. The Fund agrees to lend us cash to cover some balance of payments issues.
In return, inter alia, our representatives agree to a top-down reform of our tax laws and policies. Vide: 
The Tax Reform Commission didn't happen. But GoK did deliver on the tax reform front. New laws on Value Added Tax, Excise Tax, all flowed from this. Current efforts to write a new income tax bill? Also related.
But, I digress.
But, I digress.
Broadly, this is what we (via our then stewards of fiscal and monetary policy) agreed to.
When MPs passed the VAT Bill 2 years later, they baked in an interesting transition clause. VAT would not apply on petroleum products (diesel, gasoline, kerosene, Av Gas, LPG) for 3 years. That kicked the can to September 1, 2016.
Come 2016 though, the 2017 election is looking large. So Kenyan politicians do what they're so good at. Avoiding responsibility, they kick then can down the road again. Via Finance Bill 2017, the exemption is extended for another 2 years.
Which neatly bring us to September 1, 2018 when the exemption is due to end.
The point of this thread, is a simple one. The circumstances that brought us into borrowing from @IMFNews are mostly home made. Fiscal indiscipline. Losses via graft. Speedy ramp up of debt.
Arguing that the IMF is at fault here, is a bit like going to a dentist for a root canal, then blaming her for the pain involved in the process. You could have eaten less sugar. Brushed your teeth more often. Complaining now *and* blaming the dentist is just plain silly.
The problem, as always, isn't far. If we're looking for the guilty, we just need to look into a mirror.
