President Uhuru Kenyatta has scored big in the recent supremacy battle with the Judiciary after the Court of Appeal sitting in Nairobi overturned a High Court decision that nullified 23 laws.
On Friday, November 19, the Court of Appeal restored 21 of the 24 laws that were annulled by the High Court.
The laws were passed by the National Assembly without the input of the Senate and declared unconstitutional by the High Court.
In a ruling delivered by a three-Judge bench, the High Court argued that the Senate's role in legislation is not optional and that it was unlawful for the National Assembly to ‘ignore’ the Upper House.
Among the laws that were nullified by the High Court include the Cyber Crime and Computer Misuse Bill and the law governing the operations of the Coast Guards.
Another law that was nullified by the High Court was the National (Amendment) Health Laws, which gave Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) exclusive right to supply medicine and medical equipment to the county governments.
Other controversial laws included the Public Trustee Amendment Act, Building Surveyors Act, Tax Laws Act, The Kenya Coast Guard Service Act, Supplementary Appropriation Act, Equalisation Fund Appropriation Act, The Finance Act No. 10 of 2018 and Capital Markets Act.
Additional bills that were affected by the nullification are National Youth Service Act, the Sports (Amendment) Act, National Cohesion (Amendment) Act, the Equalisation Fund Appropriation Act 2018 and the Sacco Societies (Amendments) 2018.
The National Assembly had argued that nullifying the Acts would be a huge loss on the State considering the costs involved.
Senators led by Speaker Kenneth Lusaka in 2019, moved to court challenging more than 20 laws enacted without their input.
In what was seen as an escalation of turf wars that have bedevilled the Parliament, Senators appealed for the court to annul Acts of Parliament that they say did not comply with the due process.
A 2013 Supreme Court advisory advised for the inclusion of the Senate in laws that affected the counties.
The findings faulted Speaker Justin Muturi for abandoning all engagement or consultation with the Speaker of the Senate.
