In the the midst of loud headlines about COVID-19 and the occasional political noises, a heated debate is underway about an attempt by the government to introduce controversial new taxes in the newly published Finance Bill.

A group of six civil society organisations have now petitioned the National Assembly, protesting the plan by the government to impose **Value Added Tax (VAT)** on clean energy solutions including solar equipment, clean cooking stoves and **Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)**.

![A renewable energy Jiko](https://api.wanonmedia.com/media/43ddd392-89ef-4e6f-9e88-04e0b441cc0c.png)

*A renewable energy Jiko*

In the **Finance Bill 2020/2021**, the government is proposing to remove **VAT** exemption for specialized equipment for the development and generation of solar and wind energy, including batteries used to store solar energy, essentially allowing for the imposition of the applicable **14% VAT** on these goods. Clean cooking stoves and LPG, which are increasingly popular, will also now attract the standard VAT rate, should parliament approve the bill in its current form.

The consortium comprising the Alliance of Civil Society Organisations for Clean Energy Access, the Kenya Climate Change Working Group(KWCCG), the Green Africa Foundation, the Clean Cooking Association of Kenya (CCAK), SUSWATCH-Kenya and the Sustainable Energy Access Forum Kenya (SEAF-K), say the move will put these clean sources of energy out of reach for a majority of Kenyans and undermine the government’s clean energy agenda.

> “the introduction of 14% VAT on solar powered development and generation equipment will erode numerous gains that have been made towards the achievement of universal energy access by 2022”, says their petition, adding that the move would also compromise Kenya’s commitment to the **United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)** number 7 which aims at ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

![Solar Panels](https://api.wanonmedia.com/media/55b3bce8-bcf1-499c-a101-4bd342ccd370.jpg)

*Photo by Wanon Media*

Kenya is currently implementing the **Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project (KOSAP)**, which seeks to provide electricity to parts of the country that are not served by the national grid. The project which is financed by the World Bank is part of Kenya’s stated agenda of achieving universal energy access for all by 2022. It is targeting at least **1.3 Million households**, mainly in the North East and Northern Kenya. These residents are currently left out of the country’s Mombasa – Nairobi – Lake Victoria central electricity corridor, and according to experts, solutions such as solar energy are their only hope.

A recent analysis by audit and tax firm **KPMG**, warns that imposing **VAT** on these increasingly essential goods would negate this noble government initiative on renewable energy.

> “The proposed **VAT** charge on **LPG** will increase the price of cooking gas which contradicts government efforts to shift consumers from use of wood fuel to LPG to conserve our forests”, says KPMG in their report published last month.

According to the **International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)**, the falling costs of renewable energy around the world has led to an exponential growth in its update. A new report from the agency indicates that the cost of solar power has declined by 47% from 2010, 82% for solar PV, 39% for onshore wind, and 29% for offshore wind within the same period. With the right policy environments, the agency predicts that this sector will continue to grow in 2020, even with the COVID-19 pandemic.

![An Infographic Comparing Renewable Energy and Fossil Fuels](https://api.wanonmedia.com/media/2eea34ad-ba07-465b-aacb-7e86c353762a.jpg)

*Source: IRENA*

In Kenya, the removal of VAT on these renewable energy sources in 2013, has spurred massive growth in the sector. The World Bank estimates that *700,000 home solar systems* have been installed in the country in recent times. The favorable tax regime is credited with the emergence of innovative solutions such as the pay-as-you go model that has made solar energy widely accessible in rural areas. The pay-as-you-go model has a flexible and affordable payment plan and is now expanding rapidly to other parts of Africa. 

On Friday, the consortium of civil society organisations, staged a web discussion on the proposed tax measures and resolved to lobby parliamentarians to reject the government move. They argue that imposing of the new taxes would have adverse effects on the education sector as well, since many pupils now use solar lamps, giving them more time for study and saving them from respiratory illnesses that come from the use of kerosene.The webinar put together in partnership with **WWF Kenya**, **Hivos East Africa** and the **Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)**, was part of a series of activities aimed at reaching parliamentarians who will be considering the bill this week. 

Interestingly, the proposals to remove **VAT** on both clean cook stoves and **LPG** were contained in the recent Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 but were roundly rejected by the National Assembly. The legislators argued at the time, that imposing VAT on LPG would increase the cost of gas and stall the country’s move towards clean energy. The National Assembly further observed that the VAT exemption on clean cook stoves encouraged the use of renewable energy thereby conserving the environment while reducing cases of respiratory illness.

The government of Kenya is currently on a revenue hunt after unveiling a multi-billion-shilling stimulus package to cushion businesses and vulnerable groups from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. But with the proposed new tax on renewable energy it may well be coming close to cutting its nose to spite its face.



Blowing Hot and Cold: VAT Plan Clouds Kenya's Renewable Energy Agenda

The city and the wild don’t usually exist in one sentence. But Nairobi has for years boasted of this very contradiction. In fact, some of the most iconic images used to promote the Nairobi National Park, are often those that have a giraffe or a zebra in the foreground and the city’s majestic skyscrapers gracing the skyline behind. This unique quality of the park has been and remains a powerful selling point, but it is also the potent mix that threatens the future of the park from time to time. Now, is one of those times.

The latest flashpoint is the **Nairobi National Park Draft Management Plan 2020-2030** – a strategic document that should ideally position the park as the wild break from the advancing concrete jungle from the city centre; a natural refuge from the hungry merchants of ***‘development’***, who seek to annex every available green space. According to critics, however, the management plan as currently drafted, may well be a long obituary for Kenya’s oldest park, established in 1946.

In the document, the **Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS)**, signals its plans to initiate a number of construction projects intended to ***‘improve visitor experience’***. The service also proposes among other measures, the fencing of the park in a bid to reduce human wildlife conflict. These, KWS argues, will eventually secure the park and result in increased revenue especially amid dwindling funding from the government and uncertain periods in international tourism.

In particular, KWS is proposing to construct an ultramodern hotel, an amphitheatre, a museum, a house for its Director among other new development projects in the park.  But the plan has angered many wildlife lovers who accuse KWS of sidestepping public participation requirements in drafting it. They argue that the public has not had time to engage with the document owing to the country’s ongoing preoccupation with the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Dr. Paula Kahumbu, the CEO of Wildlife Direct, a conservation watchdog, says the document was hurriedly put together without sufficient input from stakeholders. She is particularly dismayed by the proposed plan to put up the new buildings right inside the park.

> “There is no need for hotels in the park, there is plenty of accommodation in Nairobi…developing tourism infrastructure is not the role of KWS in terms of park management,”she insists, adding that KWS should instead focus on maintaining roads, ensuring park security and taking care of wild species in the park. 

Dr Kahumbu, who on 18th of April, 2020, kicked off a campaign on Twitter, asking for the help of parliament to* ‘save’* the Nairobi National Park, is also opposed to the plan by **KWS** to fence off the park. She says cutting off the park from the neighbouring communities will have far reaching consequences for the long term survival of the park.

![Zebras in Nairobi National Park](https://api.wanonmedia.com/media/07f407c6-2236-40b2-acc8-1092d7f300a1.jpg)
 *Photo by Wanon Media*
> “This is an open ecosystem, the wildlife needs to move out of the park every day…so the surrounding area is vital for the health of the whole ecosystem…when you fence it, you’ll end up fencing some animals in and others out and preventing the proper movement of animals,”
she says.

![LIvestock Grazing](https://api.wanonmedia.com/media/90f612b6-2ae5-40df-943c-e67237c18729.jpg)
 *Livestock grazing in Isinya, part of the wider dispersal area for Nairobi National Park*



Activist Reinhard Bonke, who is a member of the conservation lobby, **Friends of the Nairobi National Park, (FoNNaP)**, says the management plan is too heavy on development of infrastructure, which he insists should be very low on KWS’s list of priorities.

>“The proposed development activities go against the National Wildlife Strategy launched by the CS in 2018 with one of the goals being to maintain and improve the ecological integrity of protected areas,” he says, accusing KWS of being obsessed with money, an approach he terms as *‘wrong and unsustainable’*. 

Bonke is also worried about the proposed fencing off of the park. He says the move, apart from disrupting the natural movement of wildlife,  will give room for individuals to grab land on the outskirts of the park, citing the example of the silos erected within the park allegedly by influential people with political connections.

The latest controversy builds on the unresolved grievances sparked off by the construction of the Southern Bypass that hived off parts of the park and the Standard Gauge Railway that runs inside the park. Bonke contends that wildlife no longer frequents the part of the park near the road and invasive species brought by the construction of the bypass has affected the quality of pasture available.

KWS, in the draft plan, admits that these infrastructure projects have had a negative impact on the park. 

![Standard Gauge Railway in Nairobi National Park](https://api.wanonmedia.com/media/1b4d070e-f09f-49e2-ad33-cb3a81c959d3.jpg)
 *Photo by Wanon Media*

> “The Southern bypass road passes through the park, and it has cut off a section of the park that borders Wilson Airport. The impacts of this road include noise and air pollution from traffic plying the road“
,KWS says.

The service also agrees with conservationists that foreign plant species have since invaded the park owing to these disturbances.

> “The spread of invasive species has been human-aided by increased vehicle presence, the maintenance of roads within the park, and the construction of new infrastructure within and adjacent to the park which creates disturbances in which these species thrive,”
says KWS in the draft plan.

Conservation experts believe that the park which has in recent years covered an area of about 117 square kilometres, is facing many existential threats today. Apart from infrastructure projects that are increasing squeezing it and a rapidly expanding city, its southern boundary is also under siege. The sub-division and subsequent sale of land in the former dispersal areas have increased cases of human-wildlife conflicts. The draft plan was partly aimed at addressing these concerns but the controversy it has generated illustrates the high stakes in managing Kenya’s oldest park.

The implementation of the draft plan has now been put on hold by Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala. The CS has ordered KWS to extend public consultations by two months to June 2020. Conservationists hope that by then their concerns and proposals will have been taken on board. In the meantime, Dr Kahumbu says KWS should give the park a break.

> “We want the government to stop building inside the park, let the park rest, let the animals have their freedom,”
she concludes.

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