This archive report was first published on 23 August 2019.
On August 18, 2019, the National Treasury and the Attorney General announced a tax waiver for Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) and NIC Bank, paving the way for their proposed merger. However, activist Okiya Omtatah has now filed a lawsuit to stop the merger, claiming that the process was done secretly and without sufficient public participation.
According to the lawsuit, the tax waiver was granted on July 26, but was only announced to the public on August 18. Omtatah claims that this is irregular and that the process has been done in secret, with no sufficient public participation.
He also alleges that the legal notice granting the tax waiver has not been published in the Kenya Gazette, as required by law. Omtatah claims that he tried to purchase a copy of the Gazette from the Government Printer's bookshop on Haile Selassie Avenue, Nairobi, but could not find it.
“This Court must intervene immediately to stop this abuse and improper use of power by the National Treasury CS,” said Omtatah in his lawsuit.
He is seeking an order to declare the decision to exempt the instruments executed in respect of the transactions relating to the merger from tax unlawful, as well as an order to quash the disputed July 26 legal notice on tax waiver.
