Court suspends Sh2.1b road deal between NYS and Nakuru County

The High Court has suspended a Sh2.1 billion road deal between the National Youth Service (NYS) and the Nakuru County Government.

This is after the county failed to defend itself in a case filed by activists Simon Nasieku, Benson Macharia and two others against the deal.

Judge Julius Nangea ruled that the Memorandum of Understanding between the county and NYS would be suspended until the case is heard and determined.

The judge took note that the county government and the national government failed to file responses in the application seeking the suspension.

“The court notes that the application for the order has not been challenged by the respondents despite service. The respondents did not file or serve any documents,” noted Nangea.

Nangea ruled that the conservatory order suspending the deal will apply until the petition is determined.

The county signed an MoU with NYS on November 7, 2025, for the execution of the Sh2.1 billion road deal, including the maintenance of all the feeder roads under the Imarisha Barabara programme.

However, Nasieku, Macharia Paul Muchiri and Kepha Omuyoma challenged the deal, claiming the same was done without any public participation.

Through lawyer Lawrence Karanja, the petitioners urged the court to stop the county government from approving or making any payments to NYS.

They argued that the agreement bypassed legal procedures and could not be operationalised.

They also accused the county government of flouting the law, including bypassing the county assembly’s decision-making.

“The agreement requires the county to pay 50 per cent of the contract value before operations begin, despite its failure to settle pending bills owed to existing contractors,” they deposed.

They submitted that the county had failed to conduct mandatory public participation, denying residents a chance to approve the process.

At the same time, Nasieku and Macharia wrote to the Controller of Budget (CoB) to stop any request from the Nakuru County Government emanating from the MOU.

The two urged the CoB Margaret Nyakang’o to stop money approval in the MoU, claiming it did not follow the due procedure.

“We understand that the hiring arrangement has been extended to the State Department of Public Works without following due procedure,” they deposed.

They argued that the agreement would disrupt planned development activities as captured in the Annual Development Plan 2025 and approved estimates for 2025 as submitted to her office.

“The MoU goes against the Public Finance Management Act because it was signed without the proper public participation to accommodate the same,” they deposed.

The case will be mentioned on April 27.