MPs play delay tactics on Ruto Finance Bill

A flurry of points of order, numerous calls for division or outright postponement and other delay tactics dominated yesterday’s voting on the controversial Finance Bill, 2023 as Azimio leader Raila Odinga’s troops made good their threat to frustrate the exercise.

The opposition MPs made their intentions clear when they forced a division as early as the bill’s second clause on betting and gaming and digital content demanding that a new clause introduced by the Finance and Planning Committee be deleted altogether.

Deputy Speaker Gladys Shollei was forced to call for manual voting on each and every clause as opposed to voting by acclamation after some of the amendments introduced by the Azimio la Umoja MPs were rejected on the floor.The Opposition MPs had about thirteen amendments that had been included in the order paper.

The delay tactics came hours after Speaker Moses Wetang’ula allowed individual members to introduce amendments irrespective of whether or not they had sought concurrence with the National Treasury.
The clauses that the speaker allowed members to introduce amendments to include those touching on digital content, housing levy, the 16 per cent fuel and petroleum levy, increase on VAT.

“Regardless of my views on Article 114, I will allow debate on these amendments. This is not a precedent setting it is a unique process and that is why I am allowing you to debate. The clauses that I will allow you debate on are clause 2, 24, 33, 34, 36, 43 and 78 that have attracted the highest number of amendments,” he said.

Leader of Minority Opiyo Wandayi had earlier tried to have the voting process postponed but the request was denied by Wetang’ula.

“We can postpone the Third Reading of this debate so that we can do this thing well, we still have time,” he said Minority Whip Junet Mohammed said the House should be allowed to debate and vote without interference from the executive.

Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung’wah however objected to the request for the session’s postponement saying the House had enough time to debate and vote on all the clauses.

Ichung’wah had also objected to the request by the members to be allowed to have their amendments debated without prior consultations with the National Treasury.

“Mr Speaker we are not under any direction from the National Treasury but we are obligated to engage them as per the construction, “he said

Finance and Planning Committee chairman Kuria Kimani opposed the amendments by the opposition insisting that any changes to the Bill will have financial implications on the entire budget.
“For the time I have been in Parliament and having been a member of this committee winnowing has never been allowed. Most of these amendments being introduced by the opposition have been catered for by the committee, I want to tell the House that any amendment on any clause will have an effect on the budget,” he explained.

Amendments proposed by the committee provided that an employer who fails to comply with the newly introduced Housing Tax will be liable to payment of a penalty equivalent to two per cent of the unpaid funds for every month the same remains unpaid.

Employers will be required to remit deductions comprising the employer and employees within nine days after the end of the month, the committee further proposed.

“Notwithstanding the provisions of housing levy, each employee and employer shall pay a monthly levy to be known as the Affordable Housing Levy,” reads the bill.

The purpose of the Affordable Housing Levy shall be to provide funds for the development of affordable housing and associated social and physical infrastructure as well as the provision of affordable home financing to Kenyans.

The monthly levy payable by the employer and employee shall be 1.5 per cent of the employee’s gross monthly salary for the employee and 1.5 per cent of the employee’s monthly gross salary for the employer.

The committee also introduced a new clause seeking to define the beneficiaries of pension to a retired deputy president by amending the Retirement Benefits Deputy President and Designated State Officers Act, 2015.

The beneficiaries will include the spouse and the entitled person’s child who is below 18 years or is under 25 years and is undergoing a course of full-time education, and in the case of a female child is not married or is not cohabiting with any person.

The committee introduced new Income Tax rates on the individual rates of 32.5 per cent for those earning Sh3.6 million and 35 per cent for those earning Sh9 million and above.

The committee also introduced a new tax in case of repatriated income of 15 per cent, and in the case of digital content monetisation, a new tax of 20 per cent was introduced.

The MPs removed excise duty on human hair and other products including wigs, false beards, eyebrows and eyelashes, switches and artificial nails.

The committee increased excise duty on imported glass bottles excluding imported glass bottles for packaging of pharmaceutical products from 25 per cent to 35 per cent.

Excise duty on imported fish of Sh100,000 per metric tonne was also reduced from 20 per cent” to 10 percent.

Income tax will be earned by a non-resident contractor, sub-contractor, consultant or employee involved in the implementation of a project financed through a one hundred percent grant under an agreement between the Government and the development partner, to the extent provided for in the Agreement has been introduced.