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Lawyers petition High Court to bar Ruto from assenting to Finance Bill

Kwale County residents protest against the Finance Bill on June 25, 2024, while camping outside Msambweni MP Feisal Bader's office. (Photo: Mishi Gongo/EV)

By Joseph Ndunda | Wednesday, June 26, 2024

The lawyers argue that the overwhelming majority of the views submitted to the parliamentary committees for Budget and Public Finance Management strongly objected to the provisions of the fiscal bill.

A section of lawyers has petitioned the High Court to prohibit President William Ruto from assenting to the contested 2024/2025 Finance Bill to prevent civil strife and the threat to national stability.

The National Assembly passed the bill on Tuesday amid protests by Kenyans.

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The lawyers led by Ndengwa Njiru and Lempaa Suyinka argue that the overwhelming majority of the views submitted to the parliamentary committees for Budget and Public Finance Management strongly objected to the provisions of the fiscal bill.

They say the majority of stakeholders' representatives' opinions also objected to the bill on account of punitive taxation and lack of credible measures to address the economic problems and rising poverty in Kenya.

They are proposing budgetary cuts across all the three arms of the government and they want the High Court to nullify the parliamentary proceedings regarding the bill.

"That a declaration be issued to declare that (Ruto) is prohibited under Articles 2, 10 and 13 (2) of the constitution from assenting to the Finance Bill 2024 unless and until the High Court has determined its constitutionality," the petition reads.

"A declaration be issued that formulation and promulgation of the Finance Bill 2024 constitutes a surrender of Kenya's sovereignty in public finance matters to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) aided and abetted by the Attorney General, the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning and the chairman of the National Assembly's Budget and Appropriations Committee in the National Assembly Ndindi Nyoro."

The petitioners say they are acting in response to invitations by Kenyans to attest to the mass protests against the bill, which they are demanding be rejected in totality for "proposing punitive taxes, withdrawing public benefits and incentives to Kenyan businesses and the predatory economic policies."

"The petitioners aver that historically, protests against punitive taxation and poor economic policies are major triggers of revolutions, instability and civil strife," the lawyers state in the petition.

"Consequently, it is necessary that the enactment of the Finance Bill and the Appropriation Act, 2024 should be concluded legitimately in a manner that secures its broadest national consensus and acceptance."

The lawyers say that the political acrimony surrounding the "offensive" bill is systematic negation and compromise of the principles, values and procedures of public finance "that have been diluted, subverted, or otherwise undermined through the formulation and application of unconstitutional provisions of Public Finance Management Act".

The lawyers want the High Court to nullify the parliamentary proceedings on account of a Cabinet meeting held in the State House in Nairobi on June 11 to consider and pass resolutions in connection to the bill.