‘Kenya does not need a Finance Bill,’ Treasury CS nominee John Mbadi says
John Mbadi, the nominee for National Treasury and Economic Planning Cabinet Secretary, has stated that the withdrawal of Finance Bill 2024 shouldn’t be alarming. He emphasized that the government has alternative revenue collection methods that don’t require reintroducing the unpopular bill.
During his vetting by Parliament’s Committee on Appointments on Saturday morning, Mbadi mentioned that unchallenged proposals within the bill could still be individually presented for legislation.
The CS nominee highlighted that some of these proposals could help restore the country’s economic status independently, without being tied to the other less favored provisions that many Kenyans viewed as burdensome.
“The Finance Act 2023 has been declared unconstitutional, although that has been appealed. Still, we don’t have a lacuna. Finance Bill is an omnibus Amendment Bill, we have about five or six legislations that Finance Bill usually amends; we have Excise Duty, Import Duty, Value Added Tax, Income Tax, Tax Procedures Act, and fees and levies,” he said.
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“These are specific legislations. This House, if I’m approved, should help me to bring these legislations directly, touching on these specific statutes. We don’t have to have a Finance Bill, but I’ll seek guidance from the Attorney General. But I believe the good provisions that have been lost by this Bill, which are not contentious, and many can still help grow this country’s economy, we can bring them as specific amendments to those Acts with proper public participation. I think the problem we had was that the public felt there was no proper public participation, which we had, but maybe they felt they were not listened to.”
Mbadi referenced previous occasions when Parliament approved the Finance Bill later in the year, assuring the public that the recent withdrawal does not signify a halt in the country’s operations.
“On the Finance Bill that has been lost, I want to tell Kenyans, please don’t panic. Let us stop making Kenyans panic. In the 10th and 11th Parliament, the Finance Bill used to be passed in September. We used to have three months into the financial year to pass the Finance Bill,” he said.
“The minister then was allowed by law through the revenue collection order to allow for some interim taxes to be collected, but the bottom line is that the law could be in place on September 30th. So there is no cause for alarm.”
‘Kenya does not need a Finance Bill,’ Treasury CS nominee John Mbadi says
