• They rejected the Bill Uhuru assented to insisting it was not the version the National Assembly and the Senate agreed on during mediation.
• The lawmakers accused the President and the National Assembly of entrenching impunity and frustrating institutions.
Image: FILE
Senators on Tuesday criticised President Uhuru Kenyatta’s signing of the Division of Revenue Bill, 2019, terming the move a blatant violation of the law.
They rejected the Bill Uhuru assented to insisting it was not the version the National Assembly and the Senate agreed on during mediation.
The lawmakers accused the President and the National Assembly of entrenching impunity and frustrating institutions.
The senators claimed that their counterparts in the National Assembly doctored the mediated version of the Bill and backdated the commencement date to July 1.
According to them, the Bill, after signing, was to take effect upon gazettement.
Speaker Kenneth Lusaka denied signing the velum – documents of mediation – that accompanied the Bill that was forwarded to the President.
“I want to assure this House that at no point will I betray members. The version that I signed is the one that was passed by this House,” he said.
The speaker promised to issue a comprehensive statement on the matter but insisted that it was only the judicial interpretation that will provide a lasting solution.
Senate Finance and Budget Committee chairman Mohamed Mahamud alleged that the National Assembly and the Executive are working in cahoots to mutilate the spirit of the Constitution by frustrating the Senate.
“We want to go on record that what has happened today is a flagrant violation of the Constitution. We must be careful with this rogue house, the National Assembly which is behaving like a rogue elephant which wants to kick (sic) everybody in this country,” Mahamud said.
The Bill, which had stayed in Parliament for three months following the standoff between the two houses, was signed into law by the President yesterday.
Senate Minority leader and Siaya Senator James Orengo said the National Assembly and the Executive were using the ‘backdoor’ to sanitise an illegality committed when they enacted the Appropriations Act in July.
Orengo said it was illegal to enact the legislation before the passage of the Division of Revenue Bill which splits the money generated nationally between the national and county governments.
“When a law is made to apply retrospectively, somebody wants to validate what has taken place. Something has happened which is wrong. Someone is trying to correct an illegality which has happened,” he said.
Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula said that the President and National Assembly were disregarding the law.
“The speaker should write to the speaker of the National Assembly to protest the content and dishonesty in the letter,” he said.
Senators Ledama Olekina (Narok) and Cleopha Malala (Kakamega) urged the Senate to stall County Allocation Revenue Bill – the legislation that splits among the 47 counties the Sh316 billion allocated to the devolved units in the Division of Revenue Act, 2019.
“We cannot allow the Executive to continue running as if we are back to the days and era where the dictator will always have his way,” Olekina said.
Senators Ochilo Ayacho (Migori), Ali Abdullahi (Wajir), Naomi Shiyonga (Nominated), Aaron Cheruiyot (Kericho) also protested the signing of the Bill.
(edited by O. Owino)