The Court of Appeal has made a landmark ruling on the dispute surrounding the crucial Road Maintenance Fuel Levy (RMLF) funds, issuing conservatory orders handing over control of the funds to county governments.
Following a recent ruling by the High Court, the appellate court maintained that the orders will be in force for a 12-month period, during which appeals could be made before the second-highest court on the land.
“Taking into consideration all the relevant factors that we have pointed out, we are satisfied that the applicants have demonstrated that the orders sought in the consolidated applications are merited,” the Court ruled.
“We therefore grant conservatory orders and/or stay of execution and implementation of orders numbers (a), (b), (c), and (d) of the High Court judgment, for twelve (12) months to enable the appellants to prosecute their appeal before this Court,” it further added.
The ruling, delivered by Justices Musinga, Odunga and Nyamweya, following in the ruling delivered by High Court judge Lawrence Mugambi, quashed the decisions of the National Assembly of September 28, 2023, that failed to recognise county governments as beneficiaries of the fund, popularly known as the fuel levy, in the financial years 2024/2025 and 2025/2026.
It also voided another decision made on August 13, 2024, by the same National Assembly that further removed county governments as beneficiaries of over Ksh10 billion in conditional grants from funds derived from the fund in the 2024/25 financial year.
As a result of the ruling, the Kenya Roads Board was expected to disburse Ksh10,522,211,853 to county governments by June 30.
The Board, while complying with the ruling, disbursed Kshs 3,682,774,150 for the maintenance of county roads, representing 35 per cent of the total figure.
The dispute between county governments and MPs arose after MPs diverted funds collected through the RMLF from the Kenya Roads Board (KRB) to the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA).
In Kenya, the allocation of road maintenance levy funds is meant for the construction of roads and is undertaken by the Kenya Roads Board. The Board directly disburses the funds to counties but allocates funds meant for constituencies to the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA), who in turn do the disbursement.
However, MPs had moved to block the allocation of county funds through KRB, arguing that counties should use their revenue funds to construct and maintain roads.
Governors had argued that there was malice and falsehood in the move, noting that since the advent of devolution, counties had always received funds from the levy through KRB.
The Road Maintenance Levy Fund is an essential source of funding for road maintenance and development across the nation. It was established in 1993 as an act of parliament to ensure the conditions of roads countrywide are in good condition.
