Ruto inks 7 laws that will speed up execution of his Bottom-Up agenda
By Samwel Owino
President William Ruto has assented to seven key Bills that will have various ramifications to ordinary Kenyans, businesses and State agencies. He hopes the new laws will help his administration achieve the implementation of some of the promises made in his Bottom-Up economic transformation agenda.
These bills include the Kenya Revenue Authority Amendment Bill 2024, the Kenya Roads (Amendment) Bill 2024, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Amendment) Bill 2024, the Statutory Instruments (Amendment) Bill 2023, the Business Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024, the Tax Procedures (Amendment) Bill 2024, and the Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024.
The seven Bills were among the pieces of legislation that the National Assembly gave priority in consideration last week before embarking on their long Christmas recess.
The Business Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024 seeks to amend various Acts of Parliament to boost financial stability, protect depositors and promote integrity in the financial services sector. It also promotes the ease of doing business through the amendment of the Kenya Accreditation Service Act, and to provide mandatory accreditation of conformity assessment institutions by the Kenya Accreditation Service.
Further, the Bill amends the Special Economic Zones Act to empower the respective Cabinet secretary to set the minimum amount to be invested in a special economic zone and for a one-stop shop where enterprises can send all their applications for ease of doing business.
Local firms 'locked out of doing business'
During public participation, most entities complained to MPs that the special economic zones are only given to foreign firms, locking them out from doing business. There were also concerns that the manner in which firms were given rights to operate in the zones was not transparent hence by now providing the respective CS to set the minimum to be invested may come in handy to most of the companies that raised concerns with the current set up.
For the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Amendment) Bill 2024, MPs argued that the inclusion of a qualification that the chairman of the commission must have the qualifications of a judge of High Court would help deal with some cases that needed a person with a legal background.
“The chairperson of the commission shall be a person who qualifies to hold the office of a judge of the High Court under the constitution,” reads the assented Bill.
Others 'blocked' from ascension
During public participation by the Justice and Legal Officer Committee, outgoing EACC boss Twalib Mbarak had opposed the requirement, arguing that it would limit the leadership of the Commission.
Mr Mbarak argued that limiting the position to a person with such qualification would mean that other people from other professions with equally strong leadership skills will be blocked from ascending to the high office.
The introduction of the qualification is among the recommendations submitted by the National Dialogue Committee on governance team formed by President Ruto and opposition Raila Odinga after prolonged street protests.
Fixing setback after anti-Finance bill protests
For the Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the major win for the Kenya Kwanza administration will be the introduction of an economic presence tax for non-residents and a minimum top-up tax for multinational companies, ensuring that global businesses contribute their fair share to Kenya’s economy.
The government suffered a major setback after the rejection of the Finance Bill, 2024 after sustained anti-government protests that left a financial hole of Sh346 billion.
Since then, the government has been struggling on how to get additional funds to finance its activities without necessarily burdening taxpayers who are already overburdened by the current high cost of living.
Also assented to by President Ruto is the Kenya Revenue Authority (Amendment) Bill 2024, which provides for the appointment of deputy commissioners by the Commissioner-General. However, the appointments will be subject to the approval of the Board.
In order to enhance the taxman's capacity to rake in more money for the government, the Bill now allows the authority to collaborate with educational institutions like the Kenya School of Revenue Administration (Kesra) to improve revenue collection and tax administration.
It is also a win for small businesses and small scale service providers as the Tax Procedures (Amendment) Bill, 2024 assented to by the President seeks to simplify tax compliance for such entities.
According to the Bill, the information required on electronic tax invoices. It mandates that such invoices should contain the designation “Tax invoice,” the name, address, and PIN of the supplier, and, if available, the same details for the purchaser.
In addition, the Bill requires inclusion of the tax invoice's serial number, issuance date and time, supply date and time if different, among other items.
