The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) has moved to court to challenge the refusal by President Uhuru Kenyatta to assent to 10 controversial bills. The Opposition is aggrieved by the President’s decision to refer the said bills back to the National Assembly for review.
In a petition filed in High Court yesterday, Cord contends that President Uhuru’s unilateral proposals to strike out, amend or delete provisions of the said bills is unconstitutional. Through lawyer Anthony Oluoch, Cord said the move by the Head of State amounts to breach of the doctrine of separation of powers, hence should be declared null and void.
The petition comes a day after Cord MPs stormed out of the National Assembly on Wednesday after they were unable to overturn the President’s introduction of Sh10 excise tax per litre of fruit juices under the Excise Duty Bill, 2015.
The Opposition now wants the High Court to declare that the process, procedure, adoption and or consideration of reservations expressed by the President following refusal to assent to a bill has to go through public participation. Cord is also asking the court to rule on whether the President can make proposals for amendment to a particular bill.
“The petitioner wants the court to determine whether the President in exercising his reservations under Article 115 of the Constitution which says he can send a bill back to Parliament for reconsideration upon refusal to assent,’’ reads the petition in part.
The coalition further wants the court to decide whether the specific proposal for amendment made by the President should go through the entire law-making process of consideration by the relevant committee, including pre-publication, public hearings, first and second third readings.
Subsequently, the Opposition wants to know whether any laws made and enacted pursuant to Presidential proposals are invalid and therefore null and void. Cord wants Chief Justice Willy Mutunga to form a bench of uneven number of judges to hear the petition.
The bills returned to the National Assembly by the President include The Public Audit Bill, 2014 the Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated State Officers) Amendment Bill 2013, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2015, and the Central Bank (Amendment) Bill 2014.
Other Bills are the Kenya Information and Communication Amendment Bill 2013, the Public Procurement and Disposal (Amendment) Bill 2013, The Statute Law Miscellaneous (Amendment) Bill 2014, the National Flag, Emblems and names (Amendment) Bill 2013, the Police Service (Amendment) Bill 2014 and Exercise Duty (Amendment) Bill 2015.
It is argued that the powers of the President to participate in the process of legislation under Article 115 is a shared platform but in which the powers of the latter are intensively limited. The case will be heard today before judge Joseph Onguto.
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