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@kipmurkomen our government collects 83 billion annually road maintenance levy at the fuel pump and yet you says their is no money for road maintenance and everyday good citizen of Kenya fuel.. can you explain to me this.!?
Thika Superhighway is 44.6km and it was built by 32b
8TH JULY 2024
𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐃𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐘
I thank Kenyans across the country for turning up in large numbers to give their views on the maintenance of our roads.
It is worth noting that there has been a considerable increase in the country's road network from 166,451km in 2016 to the current 239,122km which require regular maintenance from the Ksh18 provided for by the Road Maintenance Levy that has been in place for the last eight years.
As a country, we are grappling with a maintenance deficit of Sh78 billion this financial year alone. With the current trend, it is projected that by Financial Year 2028/2029 this financing gap will rise to Sh315 billion.
Most of these abandoned roads are under the Low Volume Seal programme which have never been maintained in the last 10 years and are on the verge of being wiped away altogether. The Roads Maintenance Levy Review is, therefore, intended to fill this gap.
From the views we have received, many Kenyans are worried that an increase in the levy will result in a rise in the cost of living.
With this in mind, we will analyse the reports received on email and social media platforms as well as the submissions made today, and come up with a decision that corresponds with the recommendations from the public.
We will explore ways of getting the resources we need to maintain roads, as expressed by Kenyans in their numbers, without raising the cost of living through an increase in petroleum prices.
As suggested by Kenyans, we will only make this decision when we are certain that any revenue measures adopted will not result in a rise in the cost of living.
𝑯𝒐𝒏. 𝑲𝒊𝒑𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒂 𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒌𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏, 𝑬𝑮𝑯
𝑪𝑨𝑩𝑰𝑵𝑬𝑻 𝑺𝑬𝑪𝑹𝑬𝑻𝑨𝑹𝒀
𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗥𝗘𝗝𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗩𝗢𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗘𝗢𝗣𝗟𝗘:
1. In the words of the 28th President of the United States of America, Woodrow Wilson who once said "The ears of the Leader must ring with the voices of the people", this afternoon, H.E The President has confirmed that he has declined to sign and assent to the Finance Bill, 2024.
2. Article 115 of the Constitution confers upon the President the powers to REJECT a Bill by referring the Bill back to Parliament noting any RESERVATIONS the President may have on the Bill.
3. On the Finance Bill, 2024, the President has listened to the Voice of the People which is that they REJECT in totality the entire Bill.
4. In this regard, pursuant to Article 115 of the Constitution, the President has referred the Bill back to the National Assembly with a Memorandum detailing a DELETION of all the clauses in the Bill.
5. To overturn the President DELETION OF ALL CLAUSES, the National Assembly would need to garner two-thirds of all it's Members which is unattainable in light of the unanimous decision this afternoon, by the Members of the National Assembly from the political divide to honour the voice of the people of Kenya.
6. With this, the Bill FAILS and that shall be the end of its legislative process.
7. What next? The Finance Bill, 2024 having failed through deletion of all its clauses and noting the law required such a Bill to have been passed by 30th June, 2024, this means that this year, we shall have to proceed with the revenue raising measures for last year.
8. However, this creates a budget deficit of Kshs 200Billion and the National Executive, Parliament, Judiciary and the county governments will have their budgets rationalized by the National Treasury to cater for the budget deficit through reduction in expenditures to fill in the shortfalls.
9. What matters however is that the voice of the people has prevailed and as a country, we shall keep forging forward for posterity.
God bless Kenya.