A three-judge bench will this morning issue directions in a case challenging the implementation of the new Affordable Housing Act.
Chief Justice Martha Koome tasked Justices Olga Sewe, John Chigiti and Josephine Mongare to handle the six petitions which have since been consolidated.
One of the cases has been filed by 22 senators led by Busia's Okiya Omtatah.
In the case senators and seven other human rights defenders have specifically taken issue with a section of the new Act that seeks to appoint the Commissioner General of KRA as the collector of the affordable housing levy, and sections 4 and 5 of the Act, which impose the levy.
The petitioners argue that the Commissioner-General of the Kenya Revenue Authority cannot be the collector of Affordable Housing Levy as his responsibilities are strictly restricted to the affairs of the Authority.
“The Commissioner General is not the KRA. It is the Authority, not its Commissioner-General, that, under Section 5 of the KRA Act, is given the mandate to collect and account for revenues in accordance with specified laws,” reads the documents.
On March 19, President William Ruto signed into law the Affordable Housing Bill 2023, paving the way for the reinstatement of the contentious housing levy deductions.
The new legislation ropes in workers in the informal sector for the regulations to be in agreement with the High Court ruling that rendered it unconstitutional last year.
Under this new law, Kenyans will now be deducted 1.5 per cent of their gross monthly pay.
The petitioners have asked the court to quash the imposition of the Affordable Housing Levy at the rate of 1.5 per cent as provided in the Affordable Housing Act, of 2024.
Also sought is an order suspending Section 2(1) of the Affordable Housing Act, 2024, to the extent that it appoints the Commissioner General of the KRA as the collector of the affordable housing levy, and sections 4 and 5 of the Act, which impose the levy.
Omtatah also seeks to prohibit the National Assembly and 11 others from continuing to implement section 60 of the Affordable Housing Act, 2024 to the extent that it attempts to address issues previously declared unconstitutional by the High Court retroactively.
Separately, a driver who was captured in a viral video assaulting a traffic police officer in a road rage incident along Kamiti Road will be arraigned today.
He was arrested hours later in a house in Kayole.