The High Court has voided a number of bills that were passed by the National Assembly that did not involve the Senate and it affects the contentious Cybercrimes law and the law that establishes Huduma Namba.
According to the Star, a three judge bench on Thursday ruled that the Speaker of the National Assembly must involve his Senate counterpart.
The Senate had moved to court to challenge the decision by the National Assembly to pass bills without their input. The 24 bills that were nullified include:
- The Public Trustee (Amendment) Act, No. 6 of 2018
- The Building Surveyors Act, 2018, No. 19 of 2018
- Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes, Act, No. 5 of 2018
- The Statute Law (miscellaneous Amendments), No. 4 of 2018
- The Kenya Coast Guard Service Act, no 11 of 2018
- The Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, No. 9 of 2018
- The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, No 18 of 2018
- The Supplementary Appropriation Act, No 2 of 2018
- The Equalization Fund Appropriation Act, No 3 of 2018
- The Sacco Societies (Amendment), 2018, No. 16 of 2018
- The Finance Act, No. 10 of 2018
- The Appropriations Act, no 7 of 2018
- The Capital Markets (Amendment) Act, No. 5 of 2019
- The National Youth Service Act, No 17 of 2018
- The Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 5 of 2019
- The Health Laws (Amendment) Act, No 5 of 2019
- The Sports (Amendment), Act, No. 7 of 2019
- National Government Constituency Development Fund, 2015
- The National Cohesion and Integration (Amendment) Act, 2019
- The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2019
- The Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 9 of 2019
- The Appropriation Act, 2019
- The Insurance (Amendment) Act, 2019
- The National Government Constituency Development Fund Act 2015
The National Assembly had argued that nullifying the acts they passed would be a huge loss for the State considering the costs involved.
This is a very interesting development by the High Court and in particular, it involves the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act of 2018. This act was declared ‘constitutional’ on February this year after being in court for over a year thanks to BAKE and the LSK. We will now wait to see the development of this decision by the High Court on acts like the Cybercrimes law and its implementation in Kenya.
Additionally, the decision affects Huduma Namba which was introduced as an amendment in The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, No 18 of 2018. This act establishes a National Integrated Identity Management System that led to Kenyans being registered as as to create a national population register.
