The High Court of Kenya has extended an order suspending the implementation of the Finance Act 2023 to Monday next week.
This follows a virtual hearing of the case on Wednesday, during which activists who filed the case petitioned the court to pronounce itself in contempt of its initial orders.
However, Justice Mugure Thande said she will give directions on Monday.
During the virtual appearance, Prof. Githu Muigai, a former attorney general representing the State, contested the petition and claimed it put the nation at risk of a financial collapse.
He claimed that a constitutional crisis would be brought on by granting the directives requested by Senator Okiya Omtatah and six other activists.
“What the petitioners have done is that they have precipitated a constitutional crisis without precedent,” Muigai said.
Further, he told the judge that the seven petitioners had misled the court.
“By misleading the court to suspend the Finance Act 2023, they have compromised all other budget statutes including the Appropriation Act 2023.”
On his part, Omtatah, who Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo joined, dismissed Muigai’s position as baseless.
The High Court suspended the Finance Act 2023 on June 30, a day after it was scheduled to come into force amid uproar over tax proposals, including the doubling of Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel.
Justice Thande then directed the State to file a response by Tuesday, July 4.
The orders effectively prevented the government from imposing any taxes per the new Act, including the 8% increase in the gasoline VAT scheduled to go into effect on Saturday.
However, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) increased the price of petrol, diesel and kerosene by 8% while raising the VAT rate from 8% to 16%.
