Court extends Finance Act freeze order

Justice Mugure Thande stated that on July 10 the court would decide whether the orders will be in place until the cases brought up in opposition to the new law are heard and decided.
The government and groups opposed to the Act on the extension of the orders have been at odds for some time. The Kenya Kwanza government did not submit its revenue predictions to Parliament for approval, according to those opposed to the new Act’s implementation, therefore it is hard to predict how it will use the money it receives from taxpayers.
At the same time, the petitioners, who were led by Senator Okiya Omtatah of Busia, claimed that 22 clauses in the Finance Act 2023 were illegally snuck in by MPs.
The Attorney General and the Kenya Revenue Authority countered that if the orders are upheld, the government will lose more than Ksh211 billion and be unable to collect the same.
Senior attorney Otiende Amolo, Senator Omtatah, Peter Agoro, Eliud Matindi, Benson Otieno, and Clement Agoro urged Justice Thande to extend her orders, suspending the Financial Act, arguing that it would be unlawful to permit the government to collect taxes without knowing how it is to use the money.
The five petitioners further claimed that 22 of the 84 sections in the disputed Act were introduced on the House floor without the involvement of the general public.
They claimed that while the 2022 Finance Bill is still in force, the government won’t incur any consequences. According to Mr. Amollo, the Finance Act simply has a start date, which means it will remain in effect until it is superseded by a new legislation.
Kenya Kwanza, according to the attorney who is also a Rarieda MP, still has Ksh3.4 trillion in its bank accounts.
The Finance Act 2023, he continued, encourages forced servitude and makes it impossible for a Kenyan who has paid for a good or a fare to go back and get their money back.
“The entire Act has flaws that violate the constitution. Without the involvement of the public, a total of 22 clauses were introduced on the floor of Parliament. The Constitution’s fundamental tenet is public engagement. The best course of action will be to extend the orders and provide instructions to resolve the issue within 30 days,” according to Amollo.
Mr. Matindi urged the judge to take into account how the new law could affect Kenyans. He said that the matatus had already raised their prices. He also requested that the judge extend her rulings.
“Kenyans will be subject to taxes with no justification. I request that the court give Matatus’ plan to raise the fare by 30% legal notice. Kenyans won’t receive compensation if the court sides with us,” according to Matindi.
Okiya said that several government organizations had disobeyed court rulings and implemented the Act. He said that he had delivered the orders to the Energy Petroleum Regulatory Authority, but the organization afterwards issued a new circular that included a 16% VAT on petroleum items.
“This court’s authority is being disregarded, and you don’t respect this court. The Energy and Petroleum Authority partially disobeyed the judgment, exploited the Act that was suspended, and went ahead and raised fuel prices,” he claimed. “This court issued directions, I carried them out.” He added.
Daniel Kiptoo, the CEO of EPRA, is to be detained by Okiya for disobeying court orders. The application answers must be sent by the end of business on Wednesday, July 5.
The fight about how the judge would hear the parties under the Finance Act of 2023 turned out to be the Tower of Babel.
On the one hand, Muturi’s attorney, former attorney general Githu Muigai, requested the judge to take into account the petitioners’ lack of candor with the court prior to the issuance of the orders.
On the other hand, Okiya and Otiende requested that the Court ignore the State because it was already in contempt of court.
The majority of the morning was spent in back and forth between the litigants and senior attorneys.
The Standard