The government has pushed back against criticism of President William Ruto’s road record, saying his administration inherited a Sh175 billion backlog owed to road contractors, forcing it to first settle debts before stalled projects could resume.
Deputy Government Spokesperson Gabriel Muthuma said the unpaid bills had left contractors off construction sites in different parts of the country, with some major projects having little or no work taking place when Ruto took office.
Speaking during a Radio Generation interview on Thursday, Muthuma said the government’s first task was to find money to pay contractors and get them back to work.
“You may not realise this, but when President William Ruto came in, he found 175 billion shillings worth of pending bills on roads. Yeah, contractors had left the sites. Many contractors had left the site. You know, a flagship project. No contractor was on site. He had to first go look for money, and I remember the first amount of money he went looking for was about Sh65 billion to pay contractors so that they could come back to site.”
Muthuma said the road arrears were part of a wider financial burden inherited by the administration, with pending bills having built up across national and county governments over several years.
In June 2023, the government reported that national government pending bills accumulated between 2005 and 2022 had reached Sh481 billion. County governments, meanwhile, had outstanding obligations of Sh159.9 billion.
President Ruto later established the Pending Bills Verification Committee to review and verify the debts before they could be settled.
The roads sector was among those hit by delayed payments, with contractors slowing down or abandoning projects after failing to receive funds.
A 2021/22 report by the Kenya Rural Roads Authority recorded about Sh41 billion in pending payments and bills. The authority attributed the delays to inadequate budget allocations and late release of funds from the Treasury.
During that financial year, the authority completed 646.23 kilometres of roads against a target of 1,147 kilometres, as funding challenges affected the pace of construction.
The scale of the road-sector debt was also highlighted in June 2023 when Roads Principal Secretary Joseph Mbugua said the government was dealing with pending bills of about Sh150 billion owed to contractors.
Mbugua acknowledged that the arrears had contributed to projects being stalled, with the government saying it would prioritise raising funds to pay contractors and have them return to construction sites.
Muthuma said this history should be taken into account when assessing claims that the current administration simply took over road projects that were already fully operational.
He argued that announcing or planning a road was not the same as building it, especially where contractors had stopped work because of unpaid bills.
“Somebody just visualizing something or thinking about it does not mean that it’s done.”
The government later adopted alternative financing measures to deal with the contractor arrears and unlock stalled projects.
In July 2025, the Presidency said securitisation of the Road Maintenance Levy Fund had released Sh64.2 billion to settle 40 per cent of verified contractor claims involving 575 contracts and 393 projects.
A further payment of up to 40 per cent was approved for qualifying contractors, potentially taking the total amount settled to 80 per cent.
By February 2026, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki said the government had cleared Sh177 billion owed to road contractors, allowing construction teams to return to sites across the country.
The government said work had resumed on several major road projects, including the routes from Namanga to Moyale and Busia to Lamu, as well as the Mau Mau roads in Central Kenya.
It also set a target of constructing at least 6,000 kilometres of tarmac roads during 2026.
In March, Kindiki said clearing the Sh177 billion contractor debt had opened the way for the construction of more than 6,000 additional kilometres of roads.
He also said Trans Nzoia had been allocated Sh38 billion for the construction of 326 kilometres of new roads and the upgrading of existing roads to bitumen standards.
The government has continued to seek funds to clear contractor arrears and keep road projects moving.
In August 2026, Roads Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir said Sh139 billion had been mobilised to settle certified outstanding payments and speed up ongoing projects.
The first phase of the financing plan involved using Sh7 per litre of the Road Maintenance Levy Fund to mobilise Sh175 billion for verified pending bills and eligible interest obligations up to March 2026.
Muthuma also pointed to the Isiolo-Mandera road as one of the major projects being advanced under the Ruto administration.
He said the 750-kilometre road, which is among the longest tarmac road projects in the country, was between 40 and 50 per cent complete and construction was progressing.
“You have today under the leadership of President William Ruto. We are now looking at one of the longest tarmac roads in Kenya. The 750 kilometre is Isiolo-Mandera Road. From where it is now, I think it’s about 40-50 percent complete. Okay, and it’s moving on.”
Muthuma maintained that the performance of road projects should be assessed based on the actual work done, the financing secured and whether projects are ultimately completed, rather than only on which administration first announced them.