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Members of the National Assembly passed two far-reaching amendments to the controversial Finance Bill, 2023 late Wednesday night, introducing price control in the sale of alcohol products and ring-fencing the housing levy fund.

Pro-government MPs finally passed the Bill yesterday afternoon after three days of voting that were marked by side shows as the opposition fought to shoot it down.

In the amendments introduced by the National Assembly Finance and Planning Committee, monies collected for affordable housing will not be used for other purposes other than the construction of houses and associated social infrastructure.

The lawmakers introduced a new clause that will see the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) set the minimum required price for alcohol in the country so that any alcohol that is sold below a particular price will be regarded as illicit.

“We have manufacturers who are making safe alcohol that is not actually safe. What we are trying to do is to make it easier for agencies to deal with the fake drinks,” said the committee’s chair, Molo MP Kimani Kuria.

The argument behind the amendment was that some alcoholic drinks were cheaper than what would be their cost of production. In effect, alcoholic products that will be retailing below the cost of production will be deemed illicit.

However, opposition MPs led by Minority leader Opiyo Wandayi, Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed accused the committee of introducing amendments which had not gone through public participation.

“You must be very careful when you start introducing amendments to the law which would actually imply that we’re encouraging monopoly and price controls. I don’t find this particular clause agreeable,” Wandayi said.

“I know there has been a campaign in Central Kenya of late to deal with alcoholism. But the way to deal with alcoholism is not to bring these kinds of amendments, it’s to provide jobs to those youth,” he added.
Junet said the Bill had introduced clauses that had not been subjected to public scrutiny.

“I find this amendment seriously outrageous and it offends public policy. We have an open economy, a market-driven economy…this is in a way introducing price controls that were discontinued very many years ago,” Oundo noted.

The MPs also adopted a new clause 2A that prohibits the usage of the funds collected under the housing levy outside the intended purpose.

“The purpose of the affordable Housing Levy shall be to provide funds for the development of the affordable housing and associated social and physical infrastructure as well as the provision of affordable home financing to Kenyans,” reads the new clause.

Kimani explained that the reason behind the amendments was mainly because there was a risk of the money being used for other purposes.

“There was a concern that as much as we are passing this levy there was a risk that the levy would be spent on other things like paying salaries and that is why we made it mandatory that these funds be spent on infrastructure and other associated housing needs,” he said.

The passage of the new clause came hours after opposition MPs introduced seven amendments to the controversial  Bill seeking to delete the entire Housing Levy Fund clause on grounds that it was unconstitutional and illegal.

“This is the most controversial debate, we have seven amendments all seeking to have the clause deleted, we need to decide whether we want to vote on the same,” said Ugenya MP David Ochieng who was the session’s chair.

Mathare MP Anthony Aluoch opposed the amendment terming it punitive, unnecessary and completely out of touch with the hustlers.

“I want this amendment dropped, the reason for this is the entire question of housing has been a moving goalpost for this particular government. It started off as a tax, mutated into a levy at some time it moved into a levy. What the people of Kenya, and the hustlers consider to be the most important is education and the cost of living,” said Oluoch.

Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma said the national government deals with housing policy and has nothing to do with provision of houses as this is a function of the devolved units.

“Even if we pass this, the courts will pick it and declare it as a function of counties. I would plead we drop it instead of allowing the courts to drop it,” Kaluma said.

Kitui Central MP Makali Mulu supported call to have the clause dropped saying Kenyans had made it clear that it was not a priority.

“I had amendments to drop the same. This is a function of the counties. What we are doing here is not only illegal but also unconstitutional. This is a wrong approach that will not yield anything,” said Oundo.

Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo added: “There’s a point we’ve made before that you might think you’re defeating it by numbers but if you really want the entirety of the Finance Bill to drop this housing levy…if you want the entirety to fail on this account, stick to it. Because it is clearly unconstitutional.”

But Thika MP Alice Ng’anga, while supporting the amendments, accused the opposition of opposing the housing programme so that they can continue “misusing people living in the slums during campaigns”.
“I know the other side doesn’t want us to give these slum people decent shelter. They want the same people to keep clapping for them when they’re in a poor state,” she said.

Another new regulation will give the board of KRA powers to appoint deputy commissioners.
The Transport Committee, through its chairman George Kariuki, moved a new amendment that will see the number of directors reduced from 12 to nine to make it align with Muongozo code.

“The point is we are reducing the number of directors of the Kenya Roads Board from 12 to nine in line with the Mwongozo code of administration,” Kariuki said.