Opposition leader Raila Odinga at first struggled to convince MPs to back President Uhuru Kenyatta's memorandum on tax cuts, a source has revealed.
At first, the source said, MPs under John Mbadi, Jared Okello and Janet Ong'era vehemently opposed the memorandum arguing that it would incite Kenyans against them.
"At first he struggled to explain to them why they had to back Uhuru's proposal because the move could be hostile to those whom they represent.
"They were even threatening to defy Raila. After hours of debate, they finally agreed to give the government one year before doing away with the 8% VAT on petroleum products," said the source.
President Uhuru proposed austerity measures after being forced to drop VAT to 8% from initial 16%.
And Raila reportedly persuaded his troops to support the proposal for a year after which MPs toned down.
In the meeting, a resolution was reached to give the president conditional support.
"In light of the need to address the suffering of the people while ensuring development is also delivered, we recognize and appreciate that there was bilateral support for our attempt to remove VAT altogether and the President was able to meet us half way, lowering the tax from 16 per cent to 8 percent. NASA, therefore, offers its conditional support for the initiative to cut VAT from the initial 16 per cent to 8 per cent," Junet said.
MPs are expected to vote on Friday in favour or against the president's proposal with sources indicating that majority would after all back the proposal.
It is also believed that the President and Raila agreed not to cut NG-CDF as earlier proposed.