Kikuyu Member of Parliament Kimani Ichung'wah has called for the classification of roads across the country to shield Members of Parliament from criticism.
Speaking during a National Assembly Proceeding on Wednesday, February 26, the Lawmaker said that the country should emulate other African countries such as South Africa and classify roads based on whether they were constructed by the National Government or County Government.
"We should do a reclassification of all our roads. I have been to South Africa and I have seen some roads marked with markings that tell members of the public that this is a County Road, this is a municipal road and this is a national government road," he said.
"We should get to that level where the Ministry of Roads and Infrastructure does a proper classification of roads so that if this is a government road Class A let it be labeled as NGA- National Government Class A, the same with county government roads," he added.
Ichung'wa affirmed that the classification of the roads will protect county leaders especially Members of Parliament who are constantly attacked on the construction and maintenance of roads that do not concern them.
Ichung'wa has further clarified that money meant for road maintenance and construction is not managed by members of Parliament or women representatives instead noting that these funds are managed by the Director Generals of Kenya Urban Roads Authority(KURA) and Kenya Rural Roads Authority(Kerra)
Furthermore, the MP stressed the need for a reinforced oversight of road authorities including the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), KeRRA, and KURA to ensure they execute their mandate to maintain and build roads across the country effectively.
"This will ensure that these members of parliament are not bashed by their constituents because people keep on bashing members of parliament over roads that do not concern MPs because they have no budgets for them," he said.
"We must maintain our position to provide meaningful oversight on the KNHA, KeRRA, and KURA to deliver on the maintenance and construction of roads. You know they assume that MPs manage this money and yet none of these 290 MPs or the 47 Women Reps or even the nominated members manage this money," he said.
Ichung'wah further urged members of the public have a responsibility to read the controllers of budget reports to ensure they understand which party is responsible for what regarding development in their respective areas.
"Kenyans must start reading the controllers of budgets reports to see that counties are not devoting money to developments," he said.
Last year the then Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u revealed that the government had allocated Sh193.4 billion towards the road sector in the 2024/2025 budget.
