Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has faulted the Supreme Court for dismissing an appeal challenging the implementation of the Finance Act 2023, vowing not to back down.

Addressing the press outside the court after the hearing on Friday, the Senator accused the judges of using the technicalities of his submissions as a scapegoat to strike out his case.

He said the decision by the court that his submission did not meet the required threshold is an issue of procedure, which lawfully cannot surpass substantive justice.

Omtatah stated that the court ought to have underlooked the technicalities of the submissions where he presented more than 15 pages as required, and heard his appeal.

“Korti ya upeo imesema kwamba tuliwakilisha hoja yetu kwa njia ambayo haikuambatana na sheria zake ambazo walikuwa wanahitaji 15 pages...and our submissions had passed 15 pages by a small margin,” he said.

“It seems the court has found a scapegoat…because rules of procedure cannot surpass substantive justice. In the Constitution, Section 159 says the technicalities cannot surpass substantive justice.”

He added: “We cannot say you will not get justice because of submitting 16 pages instead of 15 pages. Watu wengi wamekasirika na huo uamuzi. Professors of Law are angry with the Supreme Court ruling sababu mtu hawezi kosa kuskizwa tu kwa sababu aliongeza page moja ama mbili zaidi kwa hoja yake.”

The lawmaker went on to claim that the court had been politically compromised, as he vowed to come back stronger during the hearing of the case on Wednesday next week.

While terming Friday’s decision as just “a warm-up,” Omtatah clarified that only a motion of conservatory orders has been thrown out but the lawyers are set for a legal battle next week as the Supreme Court begins hearing the case.

“Anyway, we understand because the case may have been politicized. Kesi kamili inaanza Jumatano na hapo ndio wanaume tunaenda kuwekeana vifua sawasawa. This has only been a warm up, the case hearing starts on Wednesday,” he said.

“Let Kenyans know that the case has not been thrown out, this was only a motion of conservatory orders which the court has dismissed. The Finance Bill will look into every Section of Chapter 12 of the law to ensure that the government is using the people’s taxes according to the Constitution.”

In the verdict delivered on Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that it has no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal, adding that it was not convinced that the decision of the Court Appeal occasioned grave injustice to warrant its jurisdiction.

"The intended appeals before the Court of Appeal have since been filed and are to be disposed of within 60 days of the impugned ruling. Furthermore, the hearing of the amended petition before the High Court is scheduled to commence this September 2023," noted the judges.

The court also struck out all the submissions filed by the applicants saying that they were filed out of time.