NAIROBI, Kenya – A Cabinet decision to reduce road maintenance funds by Sh10 million for each constituency has triggered an uproar in Parliament, with lawmakers warning that the move will cripple local road works already strained by heavy rains and poor maintenance.
Under the proposal, allocations through the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) will fall from Sh63 million to Sh53 million per constituency, as the government seeks to raise funds to pay contractors owed billions of shillings for stalled and unfinished road projects.
The Cabinet, invoking sections 6(2)(c) and 32A of the Kenya Roads Board Act, has asked Parliament to approve an additional Sh5 per litre securitisation from the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF).
The measure aims to raise Sh120 billion over two years to support ongoing construction and settle pending bills.
Appearing before the National Assembly Transport and Infrastructure Committee, Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir defended the plan, saying it was the only way to revive hundreds of dormant road projects.
“Owing to budget shortfalls and challenges of exchequer releases, most contractors had slowed or abandoned construction sites altogether. We are pushing them back to work through payment,” Chirchir told MPs.
But lawmakers voiced strong opposition, saying the cuts would make it impossible to repair damaged rural roads.
Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri questioned whether MPs could realistically accept such a reduction.
“Is it practically possible for members to accept this reduction? We are losing several kilometres of constituency roads as we go for new projects,” he said.
Ndia MP George Kariuki, who chairs the committee, supported the idea of securitisation in principle but said the CS must personally defend the plan before the full House.
“We support the securitisation so that contractors can go back to work. But the CS must appear before Parliament and explain why we should accept a Sh10 million reduction,” Kariuki said.
The standoff comes amid a deep funding crisis in the roads sector.
By December 2024, the government faced Sh700 billion in outstanding contracts and Sh172 billion in certified pending bills. The ministry says more than 800 projects have stalled due to delayed payments.
To address the backlog, the government previously securitised Sh7 per litre of the RMLF through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), raising Sh174 billion to clear part of the debt.
The Kenya Roads Board later secured a Sh104 billion bridge facility to pay 80 per cent of pending bills by the end of 2024.
Chirchir said that despite plans to upgrade 10,000 kilometres of roads to bitumen standard since 2014, budget support has lagged far behind project commitments.
“Over the past decade, the annual road construction budget averaged Sh50 billion — too little for the size of the project portfolio,” he said.“The thin budget ceiling results in a thin spread of allocations with negligible impact on the ground.”
The CS added that even the available funds face delays in disbursement.
“As at November 2026, we had drawn only 10 per cent of our Sh56 billion allocation for the 2025/26 financial year,” he revealed.
Parliament will now decide whether to approve the Cabinet’s proposal — a move that could either unlock billions to pay contractors or slash road allocations across the country.
