Members of the National Assembly are now demanding control of the Ksh.10.5 billion Roads Maintenance Levy Fund as a condition for allowing counties to receive Ksh.400 billion in sharable revenue for the 2024/2025 financial year.

This demand has become a key issue in the ongoing negotiations between the Senate and the National Assembly over how much revenue counties should receive, nearly six months after the budget was passed.

The Senate is proposing that counties receive Ksh.400 billion, while the National Assembly has aligned with President William Ruto’s reservations on the Division of Revenue Act, suggesting that counties should receive only Ksh.380 billion as their equitable share.

However, a significant point of contention within the 18-member mediation committee is a case filed by the Council of Governors, which has effectively frozen the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund.

“Senate should engage with the Council of Governors to address the elephant in the room: the actual figures on the revenue share to counties and the ongoing court case regarding the Roads Maintenance Levy,” said Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo.

In August, Justice Lawrence Mugambi froze the funds until the case filed by the governors is heard and determined. He also suspended the National Assembly’s decision not to recognize governors as beneficiaries of the funds managed by the Kenya Roads Board.

However, Senate members of the joint committee have dismissed the demands from their National Assembly counterparts, insisting that they are not parties to the case and that it should not influence their deliberations.

According to Ali Roba, co-chair of the committee, Senators have no authority to pressure governors into withdrawing the case.

“It’s unrealistic to expect Senators to hold discussions with governors over the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund. Governors and Senators are not as close as some may think. As a mediation committee, we are focused on finding a reasonable solution. As Senators, our responsibility is to protect devolution,” Roba stated.

Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, co-chair of the committee, urged fellow legislators to come up with practical solutions to enable the passage of the bill.

“We must not avoid the underlying issues, as that would be a dereliction of duty. We must not take the easy route. The hard route — unlocking the funds — requires both political and technical solutions,” Nyoro said.