Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has challenged the Finance Bill in court, claiming it is unconstitutional
In a suit filed under a certificate of urgency, Mr Omtatah accuses the executive of usurping the roles of both the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the two houses of parliament, the National Assembly and the Senate.
Mr Omtatah argues that President William Ruto is pushing through the Finance Bill, which he says amounts to forcing Kenyans to pay taxes irregularly.
Mr Omtatah also wants the government to publish the national debt, which he claimed, in a press conference outside the court, has been exaggerated by over Sh3.7 trillion.
The Senator says figures being circulated in the public domain show that the national debt is Sh8.7 trillion.
“The actual debt must be made public for audit otherwise Kenyans will be taxed to pay private debts,” Mr Omtatah stated at the Milimani high court when he filed the case.
He claimed that money borrowed abroad was hidden in private off-show accounts and now “Kenyans are being asked to pay these debts that financed non-existent development projects”.
Will violate
The senator has cited more than 30 articles of the constitution that the Finance Bill, if passed, will violate.
Mr Omtatah has teamed up with four activists Eliud Matindi, Michael Otieno, Benson Odiwuor Otieno and Blair Angima Oigoro to sue the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary, the Attorney General and the National Assembly.
They have also named the Commissioner General of the Kenya Revenue Authority as an interested party.
Mr Omtatah is urging the high court to certify the suit as urgent saying the government is going all out to irregularly tax Kenyans without justification.
He is asking the court to restrain the Speaker of the National Assembly from sending the Finance Bill 2023 to the President if it contains sections 28, 30, 33, 34, 36, 52, 56, 59, 73, 74, 76, 78 and 79.
He also protested against the President’s use of the courts and the National Assembly to pass punitive laws that cannot be easily amended.
He wants the court to find that substantial questions of law have been raised and then refer the case to Chief Justice Martha Koome to constitute a bench to determine the case.
