Ruto hangs on Uhuru's law to raise funds after court's big blow

 

President William Ruto

The Court of Appeal Wenesday gave the Kenya Kwanza government a new headache on raising taxes after declaring the Finance Act 2023, unconstitutional.

President William Ruto’s government was clutching onto the Act to raise funds to run its agenda after withdrawing Finance Act 2024 following waves of protests from Gen Zs.

With Justices Kathurima M’inoti, Agnes Murgor and John Mativo decreeing that the National Assembly violated the law, what is left now is taking the government to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s tax books to oil its agenda.

“The enactment of the Finance Act, 2023 violated Articles 220 (1) (a) and 221 of the Constitution as read with sections 37, 39A, and 40 of the Public Finance Management Act which prescribes the budget-making process, thereby rendering the ensuing Finance Act, 2023 fundamentally flawed and therefore void ab initio and consequently unconstitutional,” the court ruled.

The first hit is the fuel levy which was increased from 8 to 16 per cent. Others are the Roads Maintenance Levy and taxes on electronics.

The bench headed by Justice M’noti found that the National Assembly had jumped the gun as MPs passed the Act without estimates of revenue being gazetted and included in the Appropriation Bill.

By Kamau Muthoni