Finance Act: Bench set to give further directions

Next Monday, a High Court bench of three judges will convene to provide guidance on the hearing of the disputed Finance Act, 2023 case.

The parties were told to come before the bench of Justices David Majanja, Christine Meoli, and Lawrence Mugambi on 7 August to receive instructions.

After Justice Mugure Thande certified that the nine petitions established meaningful legal issues, Chief Justice Martha Koome chose the judges.

The judge had also prevented Treasury Chief Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u from putting the Act into effect, but on 28 July, the Court of Appeal removed the freeze, allowing the government to begin collecting the contested taxes.

The public can receive a refund for overpaid taxes when making subsequent tax payments, the justices Mohamed Warsame, Kathurima M’inoti, and Hellen Omondi declared, because tax is a continuous and annual mechanism. If the appeal is unsuccessful.

“There is no question in our minds about the interdependence of the Finance Act and the Appropriations Act. While the former addresses the funding creation, the latter addresses the spending,”  the Judges ruled, adding that no expenditures could be made without taking into account how the cash would be raised.

One of the petitioners, Busia senator Okiya Omtatah, has submitted a notice to move to the Supreme Court.

The Act was contested as being illegitimate since it had been passed in defiance of several Constitutional clauses and the Public Finance Act.

Omtatah and Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo contended that the Appropriation Act lacked revenue estimates as required by the PFM Act and Article 220 of the Constitution and that the Bill had not been subjected to the consent of the two Speakers as required by law.

Ndung’u, however, contested the order, claiming that if it is not lifted, the government will lose about KSh211 billion this fiscal year and will be losing half a billion shillings per day.