By Francis kioko
Date 22 May 2024
Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has filed a court petition to halt the ongoing public participation on the Finance Bill 2024, citing constitutional and legal breaches.
Joined by Dr. Benjamin Magare, Omtatah argues that the National Assembly has prematurely tabled the Finance Bill 2024 before the parliamentary approval of the Financial Year 2024/2025 budget estimates. The duo contends that basing the Finance Bill on the FY 2024/2025 budget estimates submitted on April 30, 2024, by the Cabinet Secretary is unlawful and unconstitutional.
“The petitioners are aggrieved that, contrary to the procedure laid out in the constitution, the National Assembly is considering the Finance Bill 2024 before it considers and approves the Appropriations Act, 2024,” the court documents state.
Omtatah and Magare emphasize that Section 39 (4)(a) of the Public Finance Management Act mandates the National Assembly to align the total revenue raised with the approved fiscal framework. They suspect that the decision to advance the Finance Bill ahead of the Appropriations Act is a deliberate act of fraud and budgeted corruption, intended to collect unbudgeted revenue for unapproved expenditures.
The petitioners have urged the court to certify the matter as urgent, warning that without judicial intervention, there will be no remedy for the alleged violations.
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