This archive report was first published on 2 October 2021.
On October 2, 2021, the National Assembly Committee on Delegated Legislation, chaired by Tiaty MP William Kamket, expressed its opposition to a legal notice by Petroleum Cabinet Secretary John Munyes to increase the diesel levy to Sh5.40 per liter.
The Committee found that the Ministry of Petroleum had published the Petroleum Development Levy (Amendment) Order of 2021 in May 2021, without conducting public participation as required by the Constitution.
According to the Committee's report, the Ministry's action contravened Section 11(1) and 4 of the Statutory Instruments Act, 2013, and was outside the statutory timelines set out in Section 11.
The Ministry had justified the issuance of the amendment order by stating that it was published and approved in 2020, and that the error of omitting diesel from the first schedule of the order was later discovered.
However, the Committee noted that the mistake did not warrant the issuance of a new petroleum development levy order to amend the 2020 order.
Instead, the Ministry should have published a corrigendum and an amendment order to rectify the error, as an amendment order invites the Committee to subject it to all the statutory tests set out in the Statutory Instruments Act, 2013, and relevant laws.
