Nairobi — The High Court has ordered the allocation of over Sh10.5 billion to counties for road maintenance, declaring their exclusion from the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) unconstitutional.

Justice Lawrence Mugambi ruled that the National Assembly's move violated the Constitution and nullified a 2024 decision that had withdrawn conditional grants.

The court also declared Section 6 of the Kenya Roads Board Act, 1999 unconstitutional for undermining devolution.

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Consequently, Justice Mugambi directed the Kenya Roads Board to disburse the funds by June 30, 2025.

"This ruling affirms the constitutional principle that resources must follow functions," Justice Mugambi stated in the judgment

"The decisions by the National Assembly violated Articles 6, 10, and 186 of the Constitution and cannot stand."

The Kenya Roads Board is now required to disburse Sh10,522,211,853 to county governments by June 30, 2025.

The case challenged decisions by the National Assembly to exclude county governments from receiving funds from the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) for the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 financial years.

On September 28, 2023, and August 13, 2024, Parliament denied counties over Sh10.5 billion in conditional grants for road maintenance, relying on Section 6 of the Kenya Roads Board Act, 1999.

Petitioners argued this violated the 2010 Constitution, which assigns specific road maintenance roles to counties and entitles them to corresponding funding.