Governors lobby to manage county roads

By LUKE ANAMI

Governors want the law that allows Kenya Roads Board (KRB) to allocate road funds to constituency amended to cater for counties.

They also want roads classified as C that run through their counties placed under County Government rather than the National Government as is the case currently.

“We have roads under the KRB watch which run through the counties which we want placed under the counties for easier planning. This is because the purpose of devolution is to see people manage their own resources,” said Mwangi Wa Iria, Muranga County Governor during a road inspection exercise by KRB directors. Machakos County Governor Dr Alfred Mutua has also unveiled a plan to rehabilitate roads some of which are under KRB’s watch.

However, KRB Executive Director Dr Francis Nyaganga said the Board will continue to allocate funds based on the constituencies until the law is changed to accommodate counties.

“The allocation of funds by KRB is determined by law. The law recognises the allocation of funds based on constituencies. By the time the law was written, there were no counties,” Dr Nyaganga said.

“We will re look at the law during this transition period. However, we shall continue to allocate funds to constituencies until such a time that the law shall be amended to recognize counties.”

KRB allocates funds for maintenance of rural access roads.  “KRB collects over Sh25 billion for maintenance and it is not possible to change the law mid-year to accommodate counties. That shall be done as we transit from central government to the counties,” said Dr Nyaganga.