Court Goes After EPRA Boss Over High Fuel Prices

The Court of Appeal on Monday, August 7 summoned Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) Director General Daniel Kiptoo for implementing the fuel levy despite the existence of court orders suspending the Finance Act 2023.

The court issued the summon after Busia senator, Okiya Omtatah sued the EPRA boss for contempt by moving to implement the fuel prices after the High Court had suspended the implementation of the Act on Friday, July 30.

Kiptoo was ordered to appear before the court on August 13, 2023, to explain why he should not be charged with contempt of court for disobeying orders.

The Appellate Court's decision came shortly after the High Court pushed the hearing of the Finance Act to September 13 and 14.

During the mention, the three-judge bench comprising David Majanja, Christine Meoli, and Lawrence Mugambi turned down Senator Omtatah's application seeking to cross-examine National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula and his Senate counterpart Amason Kingi in relation to their affidavits claiming that there was a concurrence between the two houses before the law was passed.

Omtatah questioned the constitutionality of the contested law arguing that it was passed by the National Assembly without the input of the Senate. While Wetangula and Kingi argued in their affidavits that there was concurrence, Omtatah contested the argument on the basis that the speakers had lied.

"There is a need to have the Speaker of the Senate cross-examined because what he has deposed in his affidavits are lies. I am a sitting Senator and there was never such concurrence," the senator argued.

Wetang'ula and Kingi's lawyers opposed the application arguing that their clients' affidavits were factual.

The Law Society of Kenya, one of the petitioners in the case, argued that implementation of the Act is unconstitutional despite the Court of Appeal's ruling that lifted the suspension of the Act, allowing it to take effect as law.

As a result, the Housing Fund, one of the most contentious clauses of the Finance Act, was implemented and as a consequence of the suspension, its taxes were backdated to include July 2023.

After the Court of Appeal lifted conservatory orders issued against the implementation of the act, the government moved to compel the employers to submit monies that were due for July 2023.

What this therefore means is that employers will be required to remit the housing levy for both July and August, a move which could see employees inflicted with double deductions.

The taxman directed that the employers are obligated to remit the 1.5 per cent Housing Levy deduction by the ninth of every month, with employees also paying their 1.5 per cent contributions within the same period, a total of 3 per cent.

On Saturday, August 6, the Kenya Human Rights Commission, alongside six other agencies, moved to court to challenge the backdating of the AHL, which was set at 1.5 per cent of gross salaries in the Finance Act.