High Court declares the BBI unconstitutional
17 May 2021
In a judgement that's arguably the most significant ruling since the nullification of the 2017 Presidential election, last week the High Court ruled that the Constitutional amendment bill 2020 (BBI) was unconstitutional, irregular and hence illegal.
Highlights of the judgement:
a) That President Uhuru Kenyatta had violated the constitution by initiating a constitutional amendment process that ought to be initiated only by the public through popular initiative or Parliament.
b) The BBI steering committee is an unlawful and unconstitutional entity.
c) By initiating the BBI, the president has contravened chapter 6 of the Constitution on Leadership and Integrity.
d) The Constitutional amendment bill cannot be subjected to a referendum before a nationwide voter registration.
Please call me" inventor wants billions from vodacom
Perhaps the most used yet subtle feature offered by Safaricom is the ‘please call me’ feature which has been in use since 2001. This week, its inventor is demanding Ksh 75 billion in compensation from vodacom for inventing the feature. Mr Nkosana Makate (the inventor) has declined Ksh 354 million compensation from Vodacom claiming that it is not sufficient.
The Guateng High Court in Pretoria is set to determine whether the amount offered by Vodacom is sufficient. This will hopefully end this ‘David v Goliath’ case that has been ongoing for nearly 20 years.
Law
Finance bill of 2021 proposes removal of parliamentary oversight on VAT approval
The Finance bill 2021 proposes to remove the requirement for the National Treasury and the Cabinet secretary to seek approval from the national assembly for any VAT regulations introduced.
what this means: The treasury will have the power to propose and implement new tax measures without parliament’s oversight.
Constitutionality of this proposal : The proposal is unconstitutional as it empowers a statutory body to make and implement decisions without parliamentary oversight contrary to the Statutory Instruments Act which obligates scrutiny and oversight of all statutory instruments by parliament.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
1. Kenya and Somalia’s relations return to uncertainty
Last week, Kenya issued a statement through the KCAA (Kenya Civil Aviation Authority) banning all commercial and cargo flights from Somalia until August this year.
The more interesting fact is that Somalia’s foreign minister stated that Somalia learnt of the flight suspension through social media. The statement issued by KCAA came a day after Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority retained their ban on Khat (miraa) flights from Kenya.
Note: The exceptions to this ban are the United Nations, Medical evacuation flights and Humanitarian missions.
It is unclear whether this back and forth between Kenya and Somalia will end soon.
2. Kenya to spend 1 billion Kenya Shillings on London Envoy
Budget estimates in parliament revealed that the government allocated Ksh 1 billion to purchase property in London that will house diplomatic missions. This is among efforts to reduce the rental costs of diplomatic missions which averages at 3 billion Kenya Shillings every year.
This is because Kenyan Diplomats rent houses and offices in London, Washington and New York at the expense of tax payers. These cities are the most expensive in the world.
ENVIRONMENT
Kenya Plans to Set up emissions trading system
Emissions trading is a pollution control mechanism where a central authority issues a limited number of permits for the release of specific greenhouse gases. Companies can then buy these permits and trade them.
Kenya’s finance minister assured an online conference of Kenyan and European officials that the government was at an advanced stage in setting up a Kenyan Emissions Trading System. This would allow Kenya meet her ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse emissions and achieving carbon neutral economy by 2050.
Markets
The Nairobi Stock Exchange launches Unquoted Securities Platform
An Unquoted Securities platform is a market infrastructure that facilitates the trading, clearing and settlement of securities for unquoted companies.
The launch is in response to the growing number of ‘over the counter’ market transactions and the increase in the number of companies raising equity and debt through private placements.
The platform provides certain benefits to investors : a) reduction of settlement days b) allows the monitoring of the exchange by the NSE and c) reduces the human error associated with manual processing.
Home prices in Kenya Drop as Land value increases
According to a quarterly property pricing index conducted by Hass Consult, land prices in Kenya increased by 0.2% which is the fastest growth since March last year. This growth is attributed to investors slowly returning to the market. The report reveals that land prices rose fastest in Nairobi satellite towns because of the growing middle class who cannot afford property in the capital moving to these towns.
The report shows that home prices showed a minimal drop because of the oversupply of homes due to reduced demand related to Salary cuts, job losses and closure of businesses.
Other ConversationStarters
The rains in Nairobi this week revealed the state of urban planning in the capital. Below is a picture of flooding around the city.
Prices of essential goods like Bread is set to increase by 16% if parliament approves the finance bill 2021 which proposes to impose a 16% VAT on essential goods. The price of a loaf of bread will increase by ksh 8.
Safaricom and Amazon have announced a partnership that will see M-pesa integrated into Amazon as a payment option.
It's always a sad story for city and rural residents when the rains pound as they have over the last 3 weeks. The bigger question would be - is there anything that can be done to avert losses experienced every so often? - Loss of life, property, physical displacement, and damage to property?