Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir on Tuesday outlined reasons why the Road Maintenance Levy was increased by Ksh7 per litre from Ksh18 to Ksh25, despite a Mombasa High Court ruling halting the implementation in late August.

Speaking when he appeared before the Senate on September 18 to answer questions fielded by Senators, Chirchir argued that one of the major reasons why the increase was enacted was because the levy had stagnated at Ksh18 per litre for 8 years.

Due to inflation and real-time value, Chirchir noted that there was also a decline in the value of the levy over the eight-year period.

His last concern was the rise in the cost of road works over time, arguing that the value of the RML was lagging behind in delivery.

“The contributor to the financing gap which is related to the maintenance needs of the road network includes anticipated advanced trends in the roughness indices for the road network if the available resources for maintenance do not increase,” Chirchir told the Senate.

He further clarified that the roughness index is a term widely used in the road network industry as a measure of road condition.

Chirchir then proceeded to blame the funding gap in his ministry as the main reason the government had not been able to carry out all the required road maintenance. 

“In the financial year that just ended, the road agencies for the first time were forced to suspend a ward of a number of already tendered maintenance activities due to lack of budget,” Chirchir said.

It is for this glaring funding gap that Chirchir says that a proposal to review the levy by Kshs7 per litre was formulated several months ago.

The Road Maintenance Levy, which came into effect on July 15 and is charged per litre, received a lot of criticism and even faced a petition in court that was later dropped even after the court had blocked the government from increasing the levy until the petition was heard.

However, Chirchir told the Senate that on Monday, July 8, 2024, a public participation exercise was held countrywide to discuss the proposal before they reached an agreement.

According to him, two themes were glaringly clear after the public’s input including a worry from many Kenyans that a levy increase would contribute to a rise in the cost of living.

The other concern made by Kenyans was that they expected and required that the significant gains made in the condition and extent of the road network at great cost of Kenya should not be allowed to fall into a state of disrepair and dilapidation.