• The High Court nullified the laws but suspended their implementation for nine months for the two Houses to consult.
• The nine months' period was due to elapse on Wednesday so lawyer Paul Muite sought and received extension orders on behalf of the National Assembly at the Court of Appeal to avert a crisis.
Image: FILE
Some 23 pieces of legislation passed by the National Assembly and challenged before the High Court by the Senate will remain suspended.
The High Court nullified the laws but suspended their implementation for nine months for the two Houses to consult.
The nine months' period was due to elapse on Wednesday so lawyer Paul Muite sought and received extension orders on behalf of the National Assembly at the Court of Appeal to avert a crisis.
The case was before the court on Tuesday and the bench said it will give the judgment on November 5.
Justices Agnes Murgor, Jessie Lessit and Pauline Nyamweya said the status quo will remain until they deliver their ruling.
“The suspension orders issued on October 29, 2020, to continue to operate until our judgment is delivered,” Justice Murgor ruled.
The Senate had urged the court not to grant the orders sought by the National Assembly, saying there was no crisis as alleged.
Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jr said the National Assembly had disobeyed orders issued in February by a different bench for the speakers to consult.
“I can confirm that there has been no effort whatsoever by the Speaker of the National Assembly to consult with his Senate counterpart,” Mutula said.
He said what the National Assembly was asking was for the business of both Houses to remain stalled and the invalidated laws to come into effect.
“That will create a very big problem because we are coming to the end of the 12th Parliament and the bills that are pending would remain in abeyance until that determination,” Mutula said.
He said maintaining a status quo means they continue violating the Constitution pending the judgment.
Lawyer Ochiel Dudley for Katiba Institute asked the bench not to intervene because the issues had been determined by another court.
Ochiel said the High Court still has jurisdiction over the matter, adding it issued a suspension to allow compliance by the National Assembly.
“If you intervene now, you will be enabling the National Assembly to get away with it, which we have shown it is in a habit of not complying with court orders,” Ochiel said.
Issa Mansour for the National Assembly dismissed the claims of contempt.
He said the Court of Appeal failed to expedite the matter and finalise it before the nine months elapsed.
The National Assembly told the court that anything not touching on the county governments is in their jurisdiction to legislate.
They said the Senate does not have any mandate to deal with the money bills.
Mansour said the High Court erred by not considering Article 109 which limits the mandate of the Senate.
“It states that a bill not concerning county governments is considered only in the National Assembly and passed in accordance with Article 122 and the Standing Orders of the National Assembly,” he said.
Muite said Kenyans had no intention of placing the Senate on the same or equal footing with the National Assembly
“In Kenya it's designed as a unitary state with devolved functions; we are not a federal state that’s an important distinction,” Muite said.
Senator James Orengo opposed the submissions, saying there is only one legislature consisting of two chambers and the legislative authority is granted to Parliament not separately.