Friday’s decision by the High Court suspending the implementation of the Finance Act 2023 which is a product of the Finance Bill passed by Parliament last week and assented into law by President William Ruto on Monday continues to attract a variance of criticism from a section of politicians.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has faulted the courts’ decision claiming the courts didn’t consider putting public interest first.
He says what was in contention was a procedural issue that could have attracted an alternative means of litigating other than suspending the act as a whole.
“It is true that the Judiciary must be independent, and it is also true that its independence is guaranteed within the constitution. But it is also, important that the Judiciary becomes alive to what we call public interest. Public Interest should always be taken into account when courts are pronouncing themselves on certain key matters,” said Mudavadi.
The decision to suspend the Finance Act has been perceived as an act of economic sabotage by the Courts, with Mudavadi claiming that the matter that was brought before the judges was a procedural issue and had nothing to do with the substance matter of the finance act.
He says Kenya is racing against time as far as the resuscitation of the economy is concerned, citing that there is no time to engage a reverse gear on the issue of redefining the economic progress of this country.
“The issue in court is a procedural issue, not even substance in terms of the law but mere procedural issue. Whoever made this decision, I hope you will reflect because how can a procedural issue supersede public interest? It is not possible and it is not good for this country that public interest is taken for granted,” said Mudavadi.
The one-time Finance Minister in the early 1990s was echoing Senate Majority Leader Aaaron Cheruiyot’s position on the court’s decision as far as the finance act is concerned.
The Kericho Senator had cited that the case Presented by Busia Senator Okiya Omtata was not a unanimous position of the Senate thus distancing the Senate from the presentation by the Omtata side claiming that there was no consensus between the National Assembly and the Senate in the passing of the Finance Bill that was signed into law by President William Ruto.
“As the Senate Majority Leader, I have spoken with the Speaker of the Senate, Amason Kingi. The Speaker has confirmed to me the steps that were undertaken under the law between him and the National Assembly Speaker as far as the Finance Act issue is concerned. There was 100% consensus,” said Cheruiyot.
“Senator Okiya Omtata in his personal capacity, is not the Senate. Omtata wanted to be consulted as who on this matter?” added Cheruiyot.
The leaders were speaking at Kapteren in Keiyo North Constituency, Elgeyo Marakwet County when they joined President William Ruto, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and other leaders at the Thanksgiving Ceremony for National Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo.
“President William Ruto has set the pace as far as where we want to take this country. Our first agenda is to turn around the economy and we cannot afford to take our eye off the ball. Kenyans are suffering, we cannot postpone the problem anymore. Our predecessors were postponing the problem every time and we want to cure it once and for all,” said Mudavadi.
Mudavadi calls on the courts as they exercise their mandate to also think of what is good for this nation and her people.
“I hope the Judiciary in its own wisdom will also make corrective action because Kenya is moving and it is racing against time. The economy recovery process is a race against time, the President has set the pace we cannot afford to lose any more time,” said Mudavadi.
Other leaders who spoke on the matter called on Kenyans to be patient and give the Kenya Kwanza time to work out on modalities that will bring Kenya’s economic progress back to its rightful trajectory.
Mudavadi praised Kiptoo’s initiative of reconstructing the Kaptagat Forest Ecosystem that has been depleted, as the leaders led by President Ruto planted at least 17,000 trees to mark the 7th edition of the Kaptagat forest annual tree planting exercise as a form of celebrating Kiptoo’s appointment and encouraging the Keiyo community and Kenyans at large to support the governments initiative of achieving a target of having planted 15 billion trees by 2032.
