High Court Suspends The Implementation Of The Finance Bill

The High Court of Kenya has suspended the implementation of the controversial Finance Act a few days after President William Ruto signed it into Law.

The Finance Act was set to officially take effect from July 1, 2023 (This Saturday) and the ruling now puts the ambitious plans by the government in jeopardy.

The surprise ruling also acts as litmus paper to the Kenya Kwanza Administration on whether they will respect the ruling or go ahead and implement the Law.

Here are the orders of the court:

The Energy Petroleum and Regulatory Authority (EPRA) was supposed to announce the new fuel prices today in line with the law that increased the VAT from 8 percent to 16 percent.

The Declarations

There are inherent natural law and constitutional limitations on the power of the political arms of Government (the Executive and the Legislature) to impose taxes, which limitations protect taxpayers from unconstitutional taxation.

Sections 28, 30, 33(xxx), 34(a)(iii), (v), (vii) & (viii), 36, 52, 56, 59, 73, 74, 76, 78, and 79 of the Finance Bill 2023 pose a threat to the Constitution and should be quashed.

By publishing the Finance Bill 2023 which contains threats to the Constitution, the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Planning failed in its duty to uphold the Constitution as required at Article 153(2)(a) of the Constitution.

By publishing the Finance Bill 2023 which contains threats to the Constitution, the National Assembly failed in its duty to uphold the Constitution as required at Articles 93(2) and 94(4) of the Constitution.
1.5. By including the impugned amendments to the Statutory Instruments Act, 2013, to the Employment Act, 2007, the Finance Bill violates Articles 109(5) and 114 of the Constitution and ceases to be a ‘money bill’.

The impugned amendments to the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act [CAP. 131], Kenya Roads Board Act, 1999, and the Statutory Instruments Act, 2013, the Employment Act 2007, and the Housing Act (Cap. 117) are amendments to Bills concerning county governments that must be enacted by both the National Assembly and the Senate.

Before committing public funds to repay public debts, the public debt register ought to be audited to separate genuine sovereign debts which were authorised by Parliament and should be repaid by Kenyans from odious debts which were incurred by regime owners without parliamentary approval and/or were used to benefit private entities who should repay them.

Each party should bear their costs of litigating this case.