The Court of Appeal on Monday summoned Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) boss Daniel Kiptoo for implementing the fuel levy despite the existence of orders suspending the tax.
Before the Appellate Court lifted the orders barring the implementation of the Act on July 28, EPRA had already moved to effect new prices, which the petitioners argued amounts to contempt of court.
The Appellate Court's decision came shortly after the High Court pushed the hearing of the Finance Act to September 13 and 14.
During the mention, the three-judge bench comprising David Majanja, Christine Meoli, and Lawrence Mugambi turned down Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah's application seeking to cross-examine National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula and his Senate counterpart Amason Kingi in relation to their affidavits claiming that there was concurrence between the two houses before the law was passed.
In his petition, Omtatah questioned the constitutionality of the contested law, saying that the National Assembly passed the legislation without the Senate's input.
In their affidavits, Wetang'ula and Kingi affirmed that there was concurrence. Omtatah, however, contested this position, arguing that the two speakers lied.
"There is a need to have the Speaker of the Senate cross-examined because what he has deposed in his affidavits are lies. I am a sitting Senator and there was never such concurrence," the senator argued.
Wetang'ula and Kingi's lawyers opposed the application arguing that their clients' affidavits were factual.
The Law Society of Kenya, one of the petitioners in the case, argued that implementation of the Act is unconstitutional despite the Court of Appeal ruling.
LSK President Eric Theuri asked the court to stop government agencies especially the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) from collecting taxes proposed by the legislation, submitting that Kenyans are already burdened with high taxation.
One of the Finance Act provisions contested by the society is the Housing Fund which it described as discriminatory and disadvantageous to Kenyans in formal employment.
"The said housing levy is discriminatory contrary to Article 27 of the Constitution as it only obligates those in formal employment to contribute to the scheme without a corresponding duty on persons in informal employment to contribute yet persons in the informal subsector are the largest population of the scheme," read part of the petition.
