A legal fight has erupted over the government’s plan to hand over the A8 Rironi–Nakuru–Mau Summit Highway to private operators, with motorists now insisting the move will impose unfair costs on road users.
A petition lodged at the High Court in Nakuru challenges both the concession plan and the decision to place tolls on a road already built using taxpayers’ money.
The case has been filed by the Motorists Association of Kenya alongside two citizens, who want the court to compel the government to rely on existing public funds to expand the highway.
They argue that the state should use money collected through taxes, sovereign loans, the Road Maintenance Levy Fund, and other national levies, instead of turning the highway into a toll road.
According to them, the proposed charge of Sh8 per kilometre is unjust because motorists have financed the construction and maintenance of the country’s main roads for years.
They note that key roads, including the Rironi–Mau Summit section, were put up on public land and paid for with public resources, making the planned toll a form of double taxation.
In the petition, they point to the 2024 decision by the Energy Petroleum Regulatory Authority to raise the Road Maintenance Levy from Sh18 to Sh25 per litre. They say this rise pushed fuel taxes to about 90 percent of the landed cost, adding a huge strain on motorists who already carry the burden of maintaining national roads.
"Despite this, the respondents have announced intentions to concession the A8 highway to private entities under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, thereby imposing tolls on motorists for use of already existing public highways," states part of the petition.
The petitioners, through lawyer Jordan Kanga, say the BOT model is inappropriate for an existing road because it turns a national asset into a private investment.
"Privatisation of national highways to foreign investors compromises national sovereignty and denies Kenyans the opportunity to build, learn, employ, and accumulate domestic capital," Kanga states.
They have listed several respondents, including the Cabinet Secretary for Roads, the Kenya National Highways Authority, the Public Private Partnership Directorate, China Road and Bridge Corporation, the National Social Security Fund, and the Attorney General.
In their filing, they accuse the responsible agencies of failing to properly fund and maintain the Northern Corridor and other national highways over the last sixteen years. They want the court to rule that this long period of underbudgeting, delay, and neglect amounts to gross failure by officials in charge.
They also seek directions for investigative and administrative steps against officers from Kenha and the PPP Directorate for poor planning and budgeting.
The petition was submitted on the same day President William Ruto unveiled the highway expansion project in Nakuru.
The works, being done under a public-private partnership at a cost of Sh170 billion, involve two contractors, among them China Road and Bridge Corporation. The President said the upgraded highway is expected to be completed by May 2027.
