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The Kenyan Court of Appeal has ruled that the country’s Finance Act of 2023 is unconstitutional, upholding a preceding verdict of the High Court. Court of Appeal judges said that President William Ruto’s administration did not follow constitutionally spelled out procedure before passing the law.
Court issued a declaration that the enactment of the Finance Act 2023 violated Articles 220 (1) (a) and 221 of the constitution as read with sections 37, 39A, and 40 of the Public Finance Management Act, which prescribes the budget-making process, this was ruled by Judges Kathurima M’Inoti, Agnes Murgor and John Mativo ruled on Wednesday. The judges further said Kenya’s National Assembly passed the finance bill without budget estimates, which is a breach of the constitution. If the government fails to file an appeal at the Supreme Court, it will be forced to align its spending with the Finance Act of 2022.
The Kenyan government will most certainly file an appeal against the ruling. The court’s declaration has serious implications. What would happen to the monies already collected? I think there is judicial overreach in Kenya. As the government, we are most certainly going to challenge the Court of Appeal’s decision at the Supreme Court, stated a senior government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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Kenya had drawn a 3.7-trillion-shilling (USD 28.5-billion) budget for the financial year 2023/24. The government was recently forced to revert to spending within that budget after President Ruto declined to sign the Finance Bill 2024 into law after violent protests.
