The Council of Governors (CoG) has called on the Senate to support changes it has proposed to the Kenya Roads Amendment Bill so as to ensure that counties get 42% of the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund.

The COG Transport, Infrastructure and Energy Committee Chairperson, Kimani Wamatangi, told the Senate Roads, Transport and Housing Committee that with Counties managing 76% of Kenya’s 239,122 Kilometre Road Network, an allocation of only 5 % cannot be justified.

Wamatangi told the Committee Chaired by Migori Senator Eddy Oketch that in the financial year 2024/25, total collection from RMLF stood at Sh119.7 billion with Counties getting only Sh6 billion for the entire country terming the amount allocated as being too little.

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“The specific conditional RMLF grant that was removed was only Sh10.52 billion, while the equitable share is general-purpose money meant for health, education, water, agriculture, and every other county function. The RMLF, on the other hand, is a dedicated user-pays levy collected from every motorist specifically for road maintenance,” said Wamatangi.

He said that national agencies such as KeRRA continue to receive substantial resources — more than Sh400 billion cumulatively since 2013/14 and Sh35.8 billion in the last financial year alone — for functions that both the High Court and successive government policy reviews have identified as largely devolved, even as the merger of KeRRA and KURA has been proposed.

Wamatangi said that although the Bill does not directly amend the governance structures of the Kenya Roads Board or the Constituency Roads Committees, effective implementation of the entire legislation will depend on genuine intergovernmental partnership.

He said that under Section 7 of the Kenya Roads Board Act, which establishes the membership of the Board, COG proposes that the two outdated Principal Secretary positions (for Local Authorities and Regional Cooperation) be replaced with two representatives nominated by the Council of Governors.

“Consequential amendments to the Kenya Roads Act (Cap 408) to delete the provisions establishing the Kenya Urban Roads Authority and the Kenya Rural Roads Authority, once the roads they were created to manage are properly declassified and returned to counties, these two agencies will become redundant,” said Wamatangi.

Kenya Roads Amendment (NO. 3) Bill, 2025. National Assembly Bills NO 34 of 2025 was tabled before the Senate by the Senate Majority Leader, Aaron Cheruiyot, intended to amend the Kenya Roads Act, Cap 408 (the Act), to reclassify roads in Kenya and to provide for the responsibilities of county governments regarding county roads.

The Bill is part of broader reforms aimed at aligning road infrastructure governance with the provisions of the Constitution on devolved governance, seeking to amend the Kenya Roads Act, Cap. 408 to reclassify public roads into two major categories: National trunk roads and County Roads.

Cheruiyot said that the Bill requires that when a new road is established, the responsible authority must request its classification from the Cabinet Secretary, who must ensure the classification reflects the road’s function and guarantees access across all regions

“The proposed amendments introduce a new classification system that includes county roads and also allocates 5% of the road levy to counties, marking a significant shift toward strengthening devolution, recognizing county roads, ensuring counties have direct financial support for road projects, potentially improving rural connectivity, boosting local economies, and enhancing service delivery,” said Cheruiyot.

He said the County governments are tasked with the planning, development, rehabilitation, and maintenance of county road with their responsibilities including managing road reserves, facilitating access to roadside developments, implementing road-related policies, enforcing axle load regulations under the Traffic Act, and ensuring road works meet national standards.