A three-judge bench of the Court of Appeal has lifted an order made last month suspending the implementation of the 2023 Finance Act after Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) Prof Njuguna Ndung’u.
According to the judges, the government was losing half a billion shillings a day as a result of the freeze.
The CS moved to the Court of Appeal through Attorney General Justin Muturi, arguing that the government would lose about Ksh211 billion ($1.48 billion) in the current financial year.
“We have no doubt that the Finance Act and the Appropriation Act are interdependent. While the former provides for the generation of resources, the latter provides for expenditure. There can be no expenditure where the mode of generation of funds has not been provided for,” the judges said. “Although the actual figures are disputed, it is certain that revenue was to be collected with the operationalization of the Act.”
Prof Ndung’u said the freeze will make it difficult for the Kenya Kwanza administration to implement the 2023/24 budget as planned and some projects will have to be suspended if the government is not allowed to raise revenue as proposed in the bill.
