Court of Appeal Declares Finance Act 2023 Unconstitutional
The Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday that the Finance Act of 2023 was unconstitutional in response to a petition filed by Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah and others.
Court of Appeal Judges John Mativo, Agnes Murgor, and Kathurima M’Inoti affirmed the High Court’s decision that sections 76 and 78 of the Finance Act 2023, which amended section 7 of the Kenya Road Act 199, are unconstitutional, null, and void.
“Having found that the process leading to the enactment of the Finance Act 2023 was fundamentally flawed and in violation of the Constitution, sections 30 to 38, 52 to 63 and 23 to 59 of the Finance Act 2023, stand equally vitiated and there unconstitutional,” read part of the court ruling.
The Senator filed the case, which named over 50 respondents, including Parliament and the Speaker of the National Assembly.
The Court appeal agrees with our petition and invalidates the entire FY 2023/24 finance bill in its entirety pic.twitter.com/I7gFchIzw7
— Okiya Omtatah Okoiti (@OkiyaOmtatah) July 31, 2024
Nonetheless, the judges denied the respondents’ request that the government refund taxes collected under various sections of the Act.
According to the judges, this was denied because it was not pleaded in the petition before the High Court, and thus it was deemed to have been brought before the court improperly.
“We uphold the finding by the High Court that concurrence of both houses in the enactment of the Finance Act, 2023 was not a requirement under Article 114,” read part of the ruling.
The bill was presented to the National Assembly on June 14, 2023, and passed on June 23 of that year.
It imposed several contentious taxes, including the housing levy, which was deemed unconstitutional.
Senator Omtatah stated that the three-judge bench invalidated the Act, which was widely opposed by Kenyans.
“The Court appeal agrees with our petition and invalidates the entire FY 2023/25 finance bill in its entirety,” he stated.
Court of Appeal Declares Finance Act 2023 Unconstitutional
