When you look at the Constitution of Kenya 2010, what this tax Bill tries to do is to reduce the power of the people. They are they ones who determine levies, taxes their county governments can impose on them through Annual Appropriations Bills and other Financial Bills.
The bill sponsored by Majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah seeks to provide t counties first submit their proposed taxes, fees, levies or any charge to the National Treasury and the Commission of Revenue Allocation for approvals needs a relook to align it with our Constitution.
So if they remove that power and instead relocate it to institutions not intended or fashioned to do that function, then you are disrupting the constitutional order and that will be a route that should be avoided by all means.
And also as we know in principle, devolution is premised on two pillars — the political pillar and the fiscal pillar.
If in this way, the subject which is supposed to be independent or only constitutionally constrained powers of the county government to collect revenue, in essence we are killing devolution. This is not the time we should even think of killing devolution.
Subjecting the approval of taxes and levies to the National Treasury which is an institution of the Public Finance Management Act. And we know that its leadership is under the Cabinet Secretary which is appointed by the National President of the National Executive not the County Executive.
The Commission of Revenue too should be removed from the process so that we don’t end up offending our law.
So through this Bill we are creating a hierarchy of reporting and approval structure in essence and when you do it for finances you are clipping the wings of the counties; for that matter defeating the objectives of devolution in the counties.
I believe the Bill should be reconsidered so that we don’t end up killing devolution and depriving the people of this country of their right as enshrined in the Constitution.
The Constitutional lawyer spoke to the Star
(Edited by V. Graham)