Ichung’wah dismisses opposition claims over Finance Bill 2026 clauses

Divisions emerged in the National Assembly on Wednesday over the Finance Bill 2026, with opposition MPs accusing the majority side of stifling debate and attempting to introduce contentious provisions into the proposed tax law.

The claims were dismissed by the Kenya Kwanza side, led by Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah, who said it was procedurally impossible to introduce new clauses at the Bill's current stage.

"Every Bill that we legislate will have clauses, and therefore there's nothing that you will ever super-impose on a Bill," Ichung'wah told journalists at Parliament Buildings.

His remarks came shortly after opposition lawmakers addressed a separate press conference at the same venue, where they accused the majority side of trying to curtail debate and prematurely move the House towards voting on provisions they said had not been adequately scrutinised.

The Finance Bill 2026, whose committee report was tabled on Tuesday, seeks to raise an additional Sh98.9 billion in revenue to help finance the government's Sh4.8 trillion budget for the 2026/27 financial year.

The Bill is currently at the Second Reading stage, where MPs debate its general principles before it proceeds to the Committee of the Whole House for clause-by-clause consideration and amendment.

Bumula MP Jack Wamboka claimed the majority side attempted to force a vote before members who wished to contribute had been allowed to do so.

"Less than 20 people have contributed to the Finance Bill this morning, and Osoro led an ambush against us, and from nowhere he brought that thing," Wamboka said.

He argued that many MPs aligned to the broad-based government had stayed away from the House because they were uncomfortable supporting tax measures they believed would be unpopular with voters.

"They are worried because the Bill that they have introduced, the Finance Bill of 2026, is punitive to the common mwananchi. They are trying to bring some jargons - zero rating to tax exempt. Those are jargons that they are using to ensure that mwananchi suffers further," he added.

Wamboka further alleged that government lawmakers were rushing the Bill through Parliament to avoid detailed scrutiny of provisions the opposition considers burdensome to taxpayers.

"Every aspect of this government is tax after tax after tax. We are saying no, stop it. Enough is enough. If it's going to be hard in here, we are going to meet outside, and it's not going to be business as usual," he said.

However, Ichung'wah challenged the opposition to identify the specific provisions they claimed had been secretly introduced into the legislation.

"It's right that anyone who purports anything in a Bill must point out where that is in the Bill," he said.

The Majority Leader said any changes to the Bill would have to be introduced through formal amendments supported by the committee report and considered during the Committee of the Whole House stage.

"None of them have brought any alternatives. Even those who went to the public participation have not even read the report to see what was said of his proposal in the public participation report," he said.

The opposition also claimed parliamentary procedures had not been followed after requests for a division were declined. A division would have required members to be formally counted before a decision was made

Kathiani MP Robert Mbui said the majority side was reducing parliamentary proceedings to a numbers game at the expense of meaningful debate.

"This House cannot turn into a voting machine. We must be able to debate, and we must be able to articulate our issues," Mbui said.

Responding to claims that opposition MPs had failed to identify problematic provisions in the Bill, Mbui pointed to a clause affecting second-hand clothing imports.

"I want to tell them that mtumba is actually mentioned in the Finance Bill 2026 and it's Clause 31. I don't know why they say that we don't read," he said.

Mbui maintained that the current stage of the legislative process was intended for debate on the Bill's overall principles rather than voting on specific clauses.

"When you are on the Second Reading, you just debate. It's on the Committee of the Whole House that you debate clause by clause. Amendments are proposed after the debate."

He said the opposition would propose several amendments once the Bill reaches the committee stage, including exempting Kenyans earning below Sh30,000 from Pay As You Earn (PAYE) deductions and removing taxes on fertiliser.

Mbui said Kenyans would be watching to see who votes against the amendments.