BY SAM ALFAN.
Busia Senator Okiya Omtata now wants the Senate to scrutinize and approve the proposed national budget.
He claims the exclusion of the Senate undermines devolution and the two-House Parliament which are designed to ensure comprehensive legislative processes for public finances.
The Senate, he has argued, plays a critical role in representing interests of counties and their governments by providing oversight in legislative and financial affairs.
Omtata and Eliud Matindi have petitioned the High Court to quash the controversial Finance Bill 2024 and Appropriation Bill 2024 to pave the way for fresh legal framework to handle public funds for the 2024/2025 Financial Year.
The duo are seeking to invalidate Section 39(1) and Section 39A(3) of the Public Finance Management Act.
The petitioners are aggrieved that since the advent of devolution in 2013, the National Assembly has annually passed unconstitutional national budgets because it has consistently excluded the Senate from the consideration, debate and approval of the annual budget estimates and enactment of the national Appropriation Bill.
They recalled that Treasury, in compliance with Article 221 of the Constitution, submitted to the National Assembly the national government’s budget estimates of revenue and expenditure for the 2024/25 Financial Year.
This included financial estimates for the Parliamentary Service Commission, the Judicial Service Commission, Constitutional Commissions and Independent offices.
The Appropriation Bill 2024, which would effectively allow the Government to withdraw and disburse funds from the Consolidated Find once approved by the National Assembly, was published.
However, the passage of the Finance Bill sparked off unprecedented public demonstrations countrywide. President William Ruto declined to sign it into law.
