Governors demand 37per cent fuel levy fund

Council of Governors Chairman Peter Munya PHOTO BY EDWARD KIPLIMO.

Nairobi, Kenya: Governors want 37 per cent of the contentious fuel levy fund allocated to counties. The county chiefs also faulted the re-classification of county roads, arguing that the proposed Roads Bill, 2015, is unconstitutional.

Council of Governors Chairman Governor Peter Munya (Meru) insisted that counties should get the fuel levy fund, since they handle 120,000km of roads.

"The fuel levy fund was set up to repair roads, mainly national highways and county roads. The costing should be done for all roads and the fund shared between the two levels of government," he proposed.

According to the Commission on Revenue Allocation, counties should get 15 per cent of the fund. However, governors argue that 15 per cent is for co-management of county roads while 22 per cent is for inter-county roads.

"Counties should get 37 per cent of the fund. We should only deliberate on the modalities," said Mr Munya.

He criticised the national government for going against the Constitution and the High Court ruling assigning Class D roads and below to counties.

"The National Assembly is trying to re-classify the roads functions by amending the Constitution. The Supreme law overrides any legislation. What is happening is against the law.

"Counties are getting an additional 31,349km of roads, in addition to the 90,000kms we have, yet there are no funds. The law is clear, resources follow functions," he said when he appeared before the Senate joint committee on Health and Roads.

Senator Chris Obure (Kisii) urged governors to engage Senate on issues such as classification before things got out of hand.

"There seems to be a re-determination by the Government through the National Assembly to re-classify the roads," said Mr Obure.

He, however, wondered whether counties have the capacity to handle the roads function. "After three years, there is no doubt we have capacity to perform our duties. Many counties have come up with remarkable roadworks, for instance Mandera, Wajir and Samburu. Residents are seeing tarmac for the first time," said Munya.