Chief Justice Willy Mutunga to lead Revenue Bill case hearing

By WAHOME THUKU

Kenya: The case filed by the Senate at the Supreme Court over the passage of the Revenue Allocation Bill by Parliament will be heard on August 8.

All the seven judges of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, will hear the case.

A pre-trial conference will be held on August 1, when the court will decide which issues to determine and how the case will be conducted.

Two judges Mohamed Ibrahim and Jackton Ojwang set the dates when the case went before them yesterday for directions.

The Judges also allowed an NGO, Katiba Institute to be enjoined in the case as a third amicus curie (friend of the court) after the Law Society of Kenya and the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution.

The court ordered the Speaker of the National Assembly to file his submissions within 14 days and serve all the other parties who would then be at liberty to respond within another seven days.

The Senate is seeking an advisory opinion of the Supreme Court on whether the passing of the Division of Revenue Bill by the National Assembly and subsequent assenting by President Uhuru Kenyatta was constitutional.

The petition filed by the Senate and its Speaker Ekwe Ethuro was prompted by a decision of the National Assembly to ignore the Senate’s amendments to the Bill and sending it to President Uhuru who assented to it soon after.

The Senators want the court to decide whether that amounted to the violation of the Constitution and how such Bills should be passed in future. They also want the court to decide the fate of the passed Bill, which is now an Act of Parliament.

They told the court recently that since the Bill was passed, eight other Bills have been published in the National Assembly without involving the Senate and asked the court to decide the issue expeditiously.

In their submissions, the LSK has asked the court to declare the Division of Revenue Act 2013 unconstitutional if it establishes that the law was passed in breach of the Constitution.