President Uhuru Kenyatta will deliver State of the Nation Address in a joint Parliament sitting on November 12.
This was announced on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, by House Speaker Justin Muturi.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly will appeal the High Court decision that nullified 23 bills passed without the Senate’s approval.
“The National Assembly does appeal the decision of the High Court in Constitutional Petition No, 284 of 2019 as consolidated with Constitutional Petition No. 353 of 2019,” Speaker Muturi said.
“In the meantime, no legislative business will be undertaken by the House in the coming days, whether from the National Assembly or the Senate pending a way forward on the decision contained in the High Court’s Judgment, while seeking stay or setting aside of the Judgement by the Court of Appeal,” he added.
Last week the High Court ruled that 24 laws passed by the National Assembly without the input of the Senate have been declared unconstitutional.
In a ruling delivered by a three-judge bench, the High Court said the Senate’s role in legislation is not optional and that it was illegal for the National Assembly to ‘ignore’ the Senate.
The bench, comprising Justices Jairus Ngaah, Anthony Ndung’u and Teresiah Matheka, said the passage of the 23 laws was contrary to the Constitution.
The Senate moved to court last year to contest the National Assembly’s decision to conduct law-making business with the exclusion of senators.
One of the laws affected by the judgement is the contentious Computer Cyber Crime Act which tamed bloggers and internet users.
The Act recommends a fine of Sh20 million or a prison term of 10 years, or both, for harassing a person through the internet by making posts that are indecent or grossly offensive.
According to the Act, publishing false and misleading information, fake news is a crime and if found guilty the offender is liable to a fine of Sh5 million or two years imprisonment.
