County governments have received a major boost in their push for infrastructure development after the National Treasury disbursed Sh3.68 billion from the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) to the devolved units.

This partial release, made on June 30, follows months of legal and political battles that saw the Senate and the Council of Governors (CoG) challenge the National Assembly’s attempt to exclude counties from the fund in the 2024–25 and 2025–26 financial years.

According to CoG chairperson Mutula Kilonzo Jnr, the Treasury released only 35 per cent of the Sh10.52 billion due to the counties.

“They released 35 per cent on June 30, but we are fighting for the entire amount to be disbursed,” he said.

The release comes after a successful petition filed by the CoG and several lawmakers that led to a High Court ruling declaring the exclusion of counties from the fund unconstitutional.

High Court judge Lawrence Mugambi found that denying counties access to the RMLF violated their constitutional role in maintaining county roads.

“This denied all county governments the funds needed to maintain county roads, while national road agencies continued receiving the RMLF, clearly against the constitutional framework,” the court ruled.

The standoff began on August 13, 2024, when the National Assembly removed the entire county allocation from the RMLF in the relevant Bill, effectively halting funding for road maintenance at the county level. Despite appealing the High Court’s decision, the National Assembly failed to obtain a conservatory order to stop its implementation.

Sources revealed that Parliament later attempted to strike a deal by proposing that counties agree to the retention of 65 per cent of the funds by the national government, a proposal that was firmly rejected by the CoG, which continues to demand full disbursement.

In support of counties, the Senate has retained the entire Sh10.52 billion RMLF allocation in the 2025 County Governments Additional Allocations Bill, currently under debate.

The Bill states, “The principal object of the Bill is to provide for the transfer of both unconditional and conditional additional allocations from the national government’s share of revenue and from development partners to county governments for the financial year 2024-25.”

The High Court ruling also directed key government actors, including the Kenya Roads Board, the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury, and Parliament, to take all necessary legislative and budgetary steps to ensure that counties benefit from the RMLF now and in the future.

Additionally, the court gave a 12-month deadline for amending both the Kenya Roads Act and the Kenya Roads Board Act to align them with the Constitution.

It also ordered a complete reclassification of all roads to clearly define the distinction between national trunk roads and those under the responsibility of counties.

“An order is hereby issued directing the Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport and the Attorney General to take appropriate measures within 12 months to reclassify all roads in Kenya in accordance with the constitutionally mandated framework,” the ruling stated.

The judgment has been hailed as a landmark win for devolution and equitable sharing of resources, with the court emphasizing that continued allocation of the RMLF solely to national road agencies was unconstitutional.

“The continued disbursement of the RMLF to national road agencies to the exclusion of county governments is discriminatory and unconstitutional,” the court concluded.