The Supreme Court will give its decision on the appeal filed by Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah against the complex Finance Act 2023.
Supreme Court Registrar Letizia Wachira disclosed this on Wednesday through a communication to Omtatah dated September 4.
“Remember that the decision on this matter is via email on Friday, September 8, 2023, at 10 am before the Supreme Court of Kenya,” he said.
Omtatah and three others filed the petition in the high court on August 9 seeking to set aside the orders of the Court of Appeal that reinstated the provisions of the Finance Act, 2023.
The appeals court lifted the stay on July 28 which had been stayed by the High Court on June 30.
Finance Minister Njuguna Ndung’u claimed before the court that the government lost half a billion shillings every day, following the suspension of the Act.
Judges Mohammed Warsame, Kathurima M’Inoti and Hellen Omondi ruled that the Finance Act has a fixed period of 90 days during which the next budget cycle would be initiated.
“We have no doubt in our minds that the Financial Law and the Financial Use Law are dependent on each other. While the former provides for the production of money, the latter provides for consumption. There can be no use where the money production system is not provided,” the judges said.
Following the lifting of the restriction, the government implemented the provisions of the Finance Act in August.
It included rolling back the 1.5 percent housing tax from workers wages until July 1 when the Act was due to take effect.
In his appeal before the Supreme Court, Omtatah said it will not be possible to undo the damage caused by the implementation of the Finance Act once they have effectively demonstrated to the court how Kenyans were subjected to an unconstitutional taxation system.
It is on these grounds that Omtatah and three other petitioners asked the Supreme Court to stop the orders of the Court of Appeal which set the conditions for the implementation of the Finance Act.
”Supreme Court will deliver a ruling on Friday 8th, September on the application seeking to set aside the Orders by the Court of Appeal that reinstated the provisions of the Finance Act, 2023 that had been stayed by the High Court” He said.
Omtatah argued before the high court that the Court of Appeal had no jurisdiction to interfere with the orders that the High Court had issued.
“The decision and orders of the Court of Appeal issued on July 28, 2023, will be stayed, the hearing and determination of the amended petition by a bench of three judges in the High Court will be an academic exercise only,”
