omtatah’s case on tax law was presented today in High court

The High Court today heard the cases challenging the implementation of the Finance Act, 2018.

Lady Justice Wilfrida Okwany Tuesday certified the matter as urgent.

The judge asked activist Okiya Omtatah, who was the first to move to court to challenge the matter, to give copies of his case documents to Attorney General Paul Kihara and the National Assembly.

In a letter to the court, and addressed to the duty judge, the Attorney General had requested to be granted a hearing before any orders are issued.

Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto, who had signed the letter on behalf of the AG, termed the matter as one of great public interests.

“The purpose of this letter therefore is to humbly and most respectfully request the court to accord the AG a hearing before it can consider granting any orders against him,” said Mr Ogeto.

Last Friday, Mr Omtatah sued the Attorney General and the National Assembly over the Finance Act, which was assented to by President Uhuru Kenyatta and published in the Kenya Gazette on September 21.

According to the activist, the Finance Bill died the moment it failed to garner two-thirds support of MPs.

He argued that the Speaker of the National Assembly was wrong to thereafter present a dead Bill to the President for assent.

In his suit documents, the activist argued that the President’s powers are limited to returning a bill to Parliament accompanied with a memo containing his reservations.

He said it is not only practically impossible to determine the two-thirds threshold through acclamation, but also totally unacceptable to the petitioner that such an important matter should be subjected to a vote by acclamation, robbing it of its objectivity and allowing the Speaker the discretion to subjectively determine the outcome.

 

Letter from Solicitor General to Duty Judge on Okiya Omtatah’s petition against the Finance Act 2018. Letter appears to instruct the Judiciary on how to handle the matter. Is this right? pic.twitter.com/PgNxfUNORN

— Mars Group Kenya (@MarsGroupKenya) September 26, 2018

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