County governments have scored a significant victory in their fight for road maintenance funding after the National Treasury released Sh3.68 billion from the Road Maintenance Levy Fund to the devolved units.
The disbursement follows the Senate’s move to reinstate the fund, which has been at the centre of a protracted legal and political standoff between county governments and the National Assembly in the current financial year.
According to the Council of Governors (CoG), the Treasury released 35 per cent of the Sh10.52 billion due to counties.
“They released 35 per cent on June 30, but we are fighting for the entire amount to be disbursed,” said CoG chairperson Mutula Kilonzo Jnr.
The Treasury’s move complies with a High Court order that mandated the release of the funds, following a petition filed by the CoG and several MPs.
The petition challenged the National Assembly’s decision to exclude counties from the RMLF in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years.
High Court judge Lawrence Mugambi declared the exclusion unconstitutional, saying it violated counties’ constitutional mandate to maintain county roads.
“This denied all county governments the funds needed to maintain county roads, while national road agencies continued receiving the RMLF—clearly against the constitutional framework,” the court stated.
On August 13, 2024, the National Assembly removed the full allocation to counties from the relevant Bill, effectively cutting them off from road maintenance funding.
Although the assembly appealed the ruling, it failed to secure a conservatory order to halt its implementation.
Sources told the Star that the National Assembly later sought consent from county governments to retain 65 per cent of the RMLF, but the CoG rejected the proposal and continues to demand full disbursement.
In another major development, the Senate has retained the full Sh10.52 billion RMLF allocation for counties in the 2025 County Governments Additional Allocations Bill, which is currently under debate.
“The principal object of the Bill is to provide for the transfer of both unconditional and conditional additional allocations from the national government’s share of revenue and from development partners to county governments for the financial year 2024-25,” the Bill reads.
In its ruling, the court also directed the Kenya Roads Board, the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury, and Parliament to take all necessary legislative and budgetary steps to include counties as RMLF beneficiaries in current and future fiscal years.
Furthermore, the court ordered amendments to the Kenya Roads Act and the Kenya Roads Board Act within 12 months to bring them into conformity with the constitution.
It also mandated a comprehensive reclassification of all roads in Kenya to clearly distinguish national trunk roads from those under county jurisdiction.
"An order is hereby issued directing the Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport and the Attorney General to take appropriate measures within 12 months to reclassify all roads in Kenya in accordance with the constitutionally mandated framework,” the ruling stated.
This landmark judgment sets a powerful precedent for devolution in Kenya. By affirming counties’ right to direct funding for road maintenance, the court upheld the principles of equitable resource sharing and local autonomy.
“The continued disbursement of the RMLF to national road agencies to the exclusion of county governments is discriminatory and unconstitutional,” the court concluded.
INSTANT ANALYSIS
The court found that the National Assembly’s decisions on September 28, 2023, and August 13, 2024, to remove counties as RMLF beneficiaries for FY2024-25 and FY2025-26 undermined devolution. The actions were declared unconstitutional for violating Articles 10, 118, and 186 of the Constitution, as well as Section 18 of Part I of the Fourth Schedule.
