NAIROBI, Kenya, July 17 – Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has defended the federal government’s determination to make use of an extra Sh7 from the gasoline levy to finance street constructions, saying it was the one viable choice to restart stalled infrastructure tasks.
Mbadi famous that the federal government took the choice to avert a disaster that noticed contractors abandon the location over lack of funds.
“The street upkeep levy as it’s proper now just isn’t being utilized in a manner that makes Kenyans see the worth of that levy. We had a fiscal area that’s constrained and all of the contractors engaged on our main roads had stopped working,” stated Mbadi.
“We had a option to proceed misusing this extra seven shillings by placing marram on the roads or use it to get contractors again on the roads and that’s the route we took.”
His remarks come amid rising public discontent following the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority’s (EPRA) latest enhance in pump costs.
Super petrol now prices Sh8.99 extra per litre, whereas diesel and kerosene went up by Sh8.67 and Sh9.65, respectively.
Critics, together with Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, have accused the federal government of utilizing the Road Maintenance Levy as collateral for what he termed an “unlawful debt.”
He alleged that the administration had successfully mortgaged future collections to safe funds with out parliamentary oversight.
In response, Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir refuted claims of fiscal irresponsibility, clarifying that the federal government used a authorized mechanism often known as securitisation to boost Sh175 billion.
The funds, he stated, had been used to repay verified pending payments that had stalled over 580 street tasks throughout the nation.
The financing includes a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that receives Sh7 out of the present Sh25 per litre Road Maintenance Levy.
Earlier, Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandai additionally dismissed claims linking the gasoline worth hikes to the securitisation mannequin, attributing the changes to world oil market dynamics.
