Moses Kuria Proposes Major Changes in Management of Road Funds

Senior Advisor in the Presidential Council of Economic Advisors, Moses Kuria, has called on the government to make big changes in how road funds are managed.

He has suggested that the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KERRA) and Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), which currently handle funds from the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF), should be disbanded.

There has been growing tension over who should control the RMLF, a fund collected through fuel levies, between the national government and county governments.

The national government believes that having central control over the funds would improve efficiency and speed up road construction.

However, county leaders, including former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, argue that this would weaken devolution and take away important powers from the counties.

Speaking during a visit to Narok County, President William Ruto asked governors to allow the national government to take charge of the RMLF.

He promised that if given control, he could use the funds to build more roads across the country.
“I would request these honorable members… if you leave me with that road money you are battling for, I can plan for more funds to construct all these roads,” Ruto said.

Moses Kuria partly supports President Ruto’s view, especially regarding the management of the Kenya National Highways Authority.

He suggests that 100 percent of the Roads Development Budget should be directed to it. However, Kuria also believes that counties should have their own way of managing their local roads.

He proposed that counties create their own County Roads Authorities. These authorities would be responsible for county roads and would receive money from the Kenya Roads Board (KRB).

The amount each county gets would be based on the same formula used by the Commission for Revenue Allocation in sharing national revenue.

According to Kuria, county assemblies should decide how much money to allocate for road construction and maintenance within their counties.

This money would then be managed by the independent County Roads Authority, working closely with the Kenya Roads Board for guidance.

Additionally, Kuria encouraged counties to explore other financial options like taking loans or issuing bonds.

By doing this, counties could raise more money from investors, using the RMLF funds and their regular budgets as a base.

This would give them more resources to develop and maintain their roads without always depending on national funding.

Meanwhile, during a funeral ceremony in Siaya County on Friday, Raila Odinga weighed in on the matter.

He criticized the idea of the National Government taking over control of the road funds, saying it would greatly harm devolution and local development.

“It doesn’t make sense that somebody sitting in Nairobi is constructing roads in Mombasa town. That’s why it’s so inefficient,” Raila argued.

The debate over who should control road funds continues to heat up, with different leaders pushing for different paths on how to best manage Kenya’s road infrastructure.

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