CoG Threatens Court Action In A Tussle With The House Over Road Levy Fund

 

The Council of Governors (CoG) has protested the decision by the National Assembly setting the ceiling allocation for Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) at 15 per cent.

The Council threatened court action should the House fail to revise the figure for the 2024/2025 to 20 per cent.

CoG Chairperson Anne Waiguru expressed that the 9th National and County Government Coordinating Summit agreed to have the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund Conditional Grant reinstated to County Governments with an allocation of 20 per cent.

The Council decried that the National Assembly excluded the devolved units while arriving to the decision saying the MPs ought to have restructured the RMLF Act to include county governments in accordance with summit resolutions.

“The Council finds this decision by the National Assembly to completely exclude the County Governments from Road Maintenance Levy Fund allocations, while allocating the same to Members of Parliament unconstitutional and geared towards undermining devolution,” said Waiguru.

The National Assembly rejected proposals by the Kenya Rural Roads Authority that sought to reduce projected funding ceilings for constituency roads from 22 per cent to 15 per cent and to the critical roads from 10 per cent  to 6.8 per cent.

On the county allocation, the House noted that although the summit resolved that RLMF allocation to the counties would be given consideration in the Financial Year 2024/2025 through a restructured process, its implementation was not feasible.

MPs defend constituency roads

MPs argued the implementation of the resolution would entail amending the Kenya Roads Board Act, 1999 which has not been reviewed.

The Council pushed for additional allocation arguing that the constitution assigns National Trunk Roads to the National Government and all other Roads to the County Governments.

Lawmakers however insist that the Kenya Roads Board (KRB) has no mandate to change ceilings on allocations that go to each constituency in favor of devolved units until the Kenya Roads Board Act, 1999 is reviewed.

Gilgil MP Martha Wangari opposed the move by counties to dip their hands in the Road Maintenance Levy Fund saying the equalization fund share is enough for constructing county roads.

“Even the Kenya Roads Board Act was made in this House. We know and see the appetite governors have to dip their fingers in this Fund. But we must be very clear and straightforward. It cannot and should not happen,” Wangari stated.

Bairingo North MP Joseph Makilap insisted that its only through KeRRA that the national Government can construct roads saying the allocation must be increased as the services have been felt on the ground.

“Any attempt by KRB or the Council of Governors to slash any amount that is meant for KeRRA is an abomination. County governments have not been able to do quality jobs on the ground,”Makilap said.

Keiyo South MP Gideon Kimaiyo added: “County governments are allocated funds through the Appropriations Bill every year. They also collect their own revenue. They get conditional grants from the Government. They also get grants from development partners. Where do they take that money now that they want money that usually takes care of constituency roads through KeRRA?”   BY CAPITAL NEWS