The Senate has launched a costly financial attack that aims to take control of 49 percent of the multi-billion shilling Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) for devolved units that support the main highway agencies of the country.
The legislative coup leads to a “twisted” reality, which results in the “Decapitation of the National Grid” as its outcome. For decades, the Ministry of Roads, through its three agencies, KeNHA, KURA, and KeRRA, has maintained exclusive control over the fuel levy, which serves as its primary funding source for large-scale infrastructure development.
The Senators want to take almost half of this valuable resource so they can create a power structure that enables governors to take control of anti-pothole programs that the national government operates.
The existing budget changes require more than financial modifications because they create a “spatial financial revolution.”
The Senate plans to change the County Government’s Additional Allocations Bill, which will prevent the national government from controlling all major roads that connect Kenya to East Africa. The conflict hints at a future where the “Great North Road” could potentially suffer while rural village paths receive gold-plated budgets.
“We are tired of being the beggars of the center for roads that our people use daily,” a source within the Senate Finance Committee noted. The “Supply Chain Shock” caused by this decision remains important because it creates an unavoidable impact. Economists warn that starving KeNHA of 49 percent of its maintenance budget during a period of intense debt servicing will result in total deterioration of Kenya’s primary transit arteries within 24 months.
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