MPs move to save 1,000 expired state agencies from dissolution
National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah
What you need to know:
- The Bill sponsored by Majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah states the statutory instruments creating the laws for the agencies will continue to operate beyond January 24, 2024.
- Major hospitals such as Kenyatta National Hospital and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital are among the institutions affected by the expiry of the regulations.
The government has set in motion the process to save about 200 state agencies whose legal instruments expired last month from dissolution.
Through government-backed proposed legislation- The Statutory Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2024, Members of the National Assembly now want the expiry provision in the Act, repealed.
The 1,764 agencies are presently in breach of law after their operating instruments expired on January 25, 2024, as provided in the Statutory Instruments Act, 2013.
The proposed law now seeks to amend a clause in the current Act that provides for the expiry of the laws that created the State agencies beyond the 10 years set for them in 2013.
The Bill sponsored by Majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah states the statutory instruments creating the laws for the agencies will continue to operate beyond January 24, 2024.
“Any statutory instrument that was in operation on or before the 24th January 2024, shall continue to operate and to have effect as if the instruments had not been automatically revoked on that date,” read the Bill.
The current Statutory Instruments Act, 2013 provides for the expiry of the laws creating the agencies after 10 years unless there is a regulation seeking to exempt them from the expiry.
The Bill if hastened and passed will be a big reprieve for the 200 State entities that have been operating without any legal framework as of January 25, 2024, exposing them to legal litigation should they make major decisions affecting the public.
An application by Parliament in the Court of Appeal to have the life of the laws extended was rejected last month putting the agencies in limbo.
The court dismissed arguments by parliament that the expiry of the Instruments risks exposing the government to be sued by contractors for breaching contracts.
The Court had last year given the National Assembly 45 days to introduce an expiry clause in the Act but the House was still in its long Christmas recess when the days elapsed on January 10, 2024.
The Bill also proposes an amendment to section 24 of the Act on the penalty for breach of the instruments by increasing the fine from the current Sh20,000 to Sh1 million and the imprisonment period from six months to five years to act as a deterrent from violation of the instruments.
“The Bill seeks to amend section 24 of the Act, to increase the limit of fines and term of imprisonment for the law to act as an adequate deterrent for violation or breach of regulations,” reads the Bill.
Major hospitals such as Kenyatta National Hospital and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital are among the institutions affected by the expiry of the regulations.
Charters of 10 universities including the University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, Moi University, United States International University (USIU), Kisii University, Mt Kenya University, Maasai Mara University, Embu University College, Narok University, Africa International University and Highlands University are also now in limbo without the instruments in place.
Lawyer Danstan Omari earlier warned that the expiry of the Instruments Act means that the entities affected are currently operating illegally and whatever decision they make can't be legally enforced and any member of the public can move to court challenging their existence.
Despite the Bill, the legal process for the enactment of a Bill still means the bodies will continue to operate in limbo since the proposed legislation is yet to be introduced even for the first reading.
Parliament can however shorten the publication of the Bill from the provided 14 days to two days as provided for in the Standing Orders due to its urgency and what is at stake.
