The National Assembly during a sitting.
Members of the National Assembly have devised a new plan to exclude governors from the control of the Sh10 billion Roads Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF).
This came after the lawmakers accused the county chiefs on Tuesday of reneging on their earlier agreement to withdraw the case currently in court, which challenges the MPs' control of the funds.
MPs expressed disappointment that the Council of Governors has not approached the mediation with clean hands in order to find a middle ground solution over the matter.
Lawmakers cried foul that they were tricked by the governors to pass the Sh50 billion additional county revenue Bill last month in exchange for negotiations over the Sh10 billion levy fund.
'Tit for tat'
In order to hit back, the lawmakers have vowed to teach governors a lesson by stalling the mediation over the Division of Revenue Bill.
On Tuesday, Members of the National Assembly rejected an amendment to the Division of Revenue Bill, which would have seen allocation to counties increase from Sh404 billion to Sh465 billion.
Also Read: Governors defiant on Sh10bn roads kitty
The lawmakers unanimously rejected the Senate amendments, citing the country’s current fiscal space, which they said cannot accommodate the Sh60 billion additional funds.
MPs vowed not to pass the Bill until governors let go of the Sh10 billion roads kitty fund.
In the event the court does not go their way, the lawmakers in their second strategy are also plotting not to appropriate the roads kitty to the governors.
Power play
Sources at the mediation committee from the National Assembly side, which is led by Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma, told the Nation that the House will exercise its constitutional power, that it’s the only institution that can appropriate funds to deny governors the money.
“We will appropriate that money to the national government so that none of us gets it. Let them go to court but the court cannot appropriate money, that is our function,” said the source.
Soy MP David Kiplagat told governors that they will know that power is with the National Assembly.
“We will start with the Division of Revenue Bill and that is where they will know there are men and women in this House. They will know that it’s only us who can appropriate money,” Mr Kiplagat said.
Nyando MP Jared Okello complained that despite the goodwill from MPs allowing the passage of the additional revenue allocation under the guise that governors through CoG were going to withdraw the case, the county chiefs did not honour their part of the bargain of withdrawing the case.
“Even though we did what we ought to have done, the governors walked out of that promise and therefore allocation per constituency has been reduced from Sh42 million to 28 million. This is a travesty,” Mr Okelo said.
Nyando MP Jared Okello speaks in Kisumu.
“It is a behaviour akin to not wanting from this House. It is like the governors have confirmed that they don’t need this House in regards to their budgetary allocations,” Mr Okello added
Majority Whip Silvanus Osoro warned that MPs still have their cards if the negotiations fail to succeed.
“There is no need to hold the country at ransom, yet Sh10 billion is idling somewhere, and our roads are in a bad state. If they think they are going to hold us at ransom, then there is no problem. We have already rejected the Division of Revenue Bill,” Mr Osoro said.
South Mugirango MP Sylvanus Osoro.
“Nobody will be allowed to take this House for granted. That road fund must come back under the management of MPs,” added Eldas MP Adan Keynan.
'Taken for granted'
Bumula MP Jack Wamboka warned the governors against taking MPs for granted over the road kitty.
“We must do something punitive to the governors. We must not wait for governors to find us flat-footed. We can no longer appropriate funds for them to go and loot. It’s not going to be business as usual, “Mr Wamboka said.
Alego Usonga MP Sam Atandi, however, urged his colleagues to exercise restraint and patience, saying negotiations are still going on.
“There are many negotiations going on involving parliament, the Ministry of Roads and even the highest office in the land. I know these are weight matters, but let us embrace dialogue and very soon we are going to have a solution,” Mr Atandi said.
The Roads Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) has caused tension between the lawmakers and the County chiefs, with both seeking to have control of the billions in the kitty.
The Council of Governors, alongside Mr Issa Elanyi, Patrick Ekipara, Paul Kirui and an International Legal consultancy group, sued the government, arguing that the decision by the National Assembly to remove the counties as beneficiaries of the levy was unconstitutional.
The petitioners said the decision by the House had serious implications for the funding of the devolved units.
They also argued that the decision by the National Assembly to exclude governors from the fund was made without public participation and consultation with the Senate hence the decision undermined devolution.
The petition was heard on April 7, 2025, and judgment was to be issued on April 28. However, before the judgment was delivered, the parties to the petition agreed to enter into a consent to suspend the delivery of the judgment to allow for out-of-court settlement and conclusion of the legislation process in respect to the County Additional Allocation Bill, 2025
The consent was adopted by the court with an order that the matter be mentioned on May 19, 2025, to update the court on the process of negotiation.
The lawmakers had earlier given a condition to the Council of Governors to withdraw a case they lodged in court over the fund, or else they will not pass any allocation to RMLF while considering the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill, 2025
The additional allocations Bill constitutes funds agreed upon by the National Assembly and the Senate during consideration of the Budget Policy Statement.
Following the negotiations, the House last month passed the Bill, unlocking Sh50 billion to counties.
