President William Ruto suffered a setback in his bid to actualise the affordable housing programme after a three judge bench declared it unconstitutional.
In a ruling delivered on Tuesday November 27, Justices David Majanja, Christine Meoli and Lawrence Mugambi observed that the Kenya Kwanza violated the law in imposing the levy.
Following the ruling, the judges prohibited the Kenya Kwanza from making the statutory deductions.
“In view of the foregoing, we are satisfied that, applying the peel and substance test, the Finance Bill 2023 is a money bill; however, it contains matters that are extraneous to a money bill and are unconstitutional,” the Court ruled.
Chief Justice Martha Koome had, on July 18, selected the Judges to hear and determine petitions challenging the Finance Act, 2023.
This was after Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah moved to court challenging the Finance Act, saying that it was unconstitutional.
Justice Mugambi ruled that budget estimates were legally presented noting that the Finance Bill was a money bill within Article 114 of the Constitution and was legally presented.
However, the Finance Act was not scrapped in totality.
The housing levy had been opposed by a section of the political divide led by Azimio la Umoja.
Raila Odinga argued that the levy was not anchored on the law and it was a burden to the taxpayers.
However, Ruto dismissed their concerns arguing that it was the only way of building affordable houses for Kenyans.
He even launched payment plans allowing Kenyans to own some of the houses.
But with the latest ruling, it is still unclear which direction Kenya Kwanza administration will adopt to finance it’s ambitious housing project.
