Senator Okiya Omtatah has amended his petition challenging the Finance Bill 2023.
Omtatah in his amended petition added the speaker of the National Assembly, Commissioner General –KRA, Senate, Consumer Federation of Kenya (COFEK), Kenya Export Floriculture Allied Workers Union as interested parties.
Moreover, the Busia Senator in his amended petition notes that the Finance Bill contains amendments to several laws that have nothing to do with raising revenue, and those affecting the work of the Senate to protect the interests of counties and their governments.
“Forcing employees to contribute an amount of money based on the applicable blanket deductible percentage without consideration of their existing contractual obligations on their salaries is not reasonable,” says Omtatah.
According to the senator, it is mandatory for a speaker of one House of Parliament to first seek the concurrence of the Speaker of the other House of Parliament before the Bill can be introduced for consideration in the originating House.
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“In direct contravention of the mandatory requirement that any Bill introduced in the National Assembly, which includes provisions pertaining to county governments, must also be introduced to the Senate for concurrence, the Finance Bill 2023 was not submitted to the Senate,” he argues.
Senator Okiya Omtatah now wants the court to quash some Sections of the Original Finance Bill 2023 which did not get input from the Senate.
He further argued that the Speaker of the National Assembly violated Article 110(3) of the Constitution by introducing the Finance Bill 2023 in the National Assembly without first determining, jointly with the Speaker of the Senate, whether the Bill concerned county government.
Nonetheless, the Busia Senator had filed his first petition against the Finance Bill on June 2, arguing that some of its sections threaten the right to property, access to justice and violate the Constitution in general.
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