The Senate convened a robust meeting with the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) today to address the contentious issue of State Corporations continuing to execute functions constitutionally devolved to County Governments. 

Senators underscored that, based on historical resolutions—starting with the first Task Force Report in October 2013 and reinforced by the 11th National and County Government Coordination Summit in December 2024—agencies like KeRRA and the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) were slated for winding up, merging, or the immediate transfer of their remaining devolved mandates. 

Despite these clear directives, the Senators observed that KeRRA and KURA remain fully operational, performing functions meant for county governments, resulting in significant duplication of effort and resources alongside county and the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF) road activities.

Appearing before the Senate Standing Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations this morning, the Acting Director General of KeRRA, Engineer Jackson Magondu, was subsequently tasked to justify the Authority’s ongoing operations. 

He maintained that KeRRA is a State Corporation established under the Roads Act of 2007 to manage national trunk routes classified as Class C roads, citing a current court case that has stayed the execution of the winding-up directive until June 2026 to prevent disruption in public service delivery. 

”The Cabinet made a resolution to desolve or merge state corporations that are carrying out similar functions where KeRRA was listed as possible candidate. However, there was a court case that stayed the execution of the resolution and gave a stay order up to June 2026,” Eng. Magondu explained. 

A major point of contention arose over KeRRA's claim to provide technical assistance to counties, particularly in administering the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) channeled through Constituency Road Committees (CRCs). 

The Senator Mohamed Abbas-led Committee vehemently argued that the Constitution only recognizes National Government Roads and County Government Roads, not Constituency Roads, accusing KeRRA of basing its technical support on an unconstitutional unit of governance.

“Eng. Magondu, constituencies do not have anything called a road function. The roads can only be shared into two: national government roads and county government roads. So, the funds that you have must follow that function,” Senator Catherine Mumma, the Vice Chairperson of the Committee, submitted. 

The debate intensified around the control of the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) with Senators arguing that since the roads KeRRA works on are essentially county functions, the associated funds must naturally follow those functions to the counties. 

They emphasized the constitutional framework and demanded that the Director General address the persistent referencing of the Constituency as a legitimate tier of governance for road functions. 

In conclusion, the Committee demanded that KeRRA submit all Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with County Governments detailing the technical support provided; a clear justification for classifying intra-county Class C roads as national trunk roads; and a detailed report on the deployment of the development budget from the financial year 2013/2014 to the present day.