UDA Director of Communication Nathaniel Mong’are has defended the government’s road construction programme, saying the administration is seeking to address decades of uneven infrastructure development and extend paved roads to areas that have historically received less public investment.
In an X update posted by UDA on August 16, 2026, Mong’are attributed the disparities to policies adopted after independence, particularly Sessional Paper No. 10 of 1965 on African Socialism and its Application to Planning in Kenya.
He argued that the policy contributed to unequal allocation of public resources by favouring areas considered to have greater economic potential.
Mong’are said the effects of those decisions could still be seen in the distribution of tarmacked roads when President William Ruto assumed office in 2022.
He claimed Kenya had about 22,000 kilometres of tarmacked roads at the time and argued that roughly half were concentrated in one region.
Official statistics provide a broader measure of the road network.
Treasury data indicates that Kenya had approximately 22,400 kilometres of bituminous roads by June 2022, an increase of about 2.8 per cent from the previous year. National roads accounted for about 19,100 kilometres, while county roads made up roughly 3,300 kilometres.
Mong’are said the Ruto administration was seeking to change this distribution by prioritising roads in areas that have traditionally depended on unpaved feeder and rural roads.
He cited approximately 6,000 kilometres of roads that he said were currently under construction across the country.
Treasury performance data, however, provides a narrower measure of completed road construction under the current administration.
The State Department for Roads recorded 495 kilometres of roads constructed in FY2022/23, 542 kilometres in FY2023/24 and 761.25 kilometres in FY2024/25, giving a combined total of 1,798.25 kilometres over the three financial years.
The figures represent completed construction output rather than the total number of projects that may have been active at any particular time.
Consequently, the Treasury figures cannot be directly used to disprove Mong’are’s 6,000-kilometre figure for roads under construction, but they show that the number of kilometres completed is substantially lower.
The administration has also outlined a much larger future programme.
The 2026 Budget Policy Statement says the Roads Subsector plans to upgrade 28,000 kilometres of roads to bitumen standards between FY2026/27 and FY2030/31.
It also plans to participate in the dualling of another 2,500 kilometres of roads and expand the network through 1,891 kilometres of new roads.
The scale of the proposed programme is considerably larger than the road construction targets recorded in recent Treasury performance reports.
In the FY2022/23-FY2024/25 period, the department had planned to construct 1,350.35 kilometres but achieved 1,798.25 kilometres, according to Treasury's sector performance report.
A comparison with the final full financial year before Ruto took office also shows that road construction increased in FY2024/25.
The State Department recorded 1,729 kilometres constructed in FY2021/22, compared with 495 kilometres in FY2022/23, 542 kilometres in FY2023/24 and 761.25 kilometres in FY2024/25.
The spending picture, however, is more complicated because budget allocations and actual expenditure are different measures.
Treasury records show that the construction of roads and bridges programme was allocated Sh92.23 billion in FY2020/21 and Sh103.47 billion in FY2021/22. Allocations rose to Sh109.46 billion in FY2022/23 before falling to Sh71.35 billion in FY2023/24 and Sh30.91 billion in FY2024/25, before increasing to Sh48.10 billion in FY2025/26.
The government's FY2026/27 plan represents a significant expansion in ambition. Treasury has earmarked Sh230.34 billion for the roads sector, covering construction, rehabilitation and maintenance, while the longer-term programme is expected to require additional financing mechanisms because the 28,000-kilometre upgrading target cannot be financed entirely through existing resources.
The comparison therefore presents a mixed picture.
The Ruto administration has recorded substantial road construction since taking office, including 1,798.25 kilometres between FY2022/23 and FY2024/25, but this is broadly comparable with the 1,729 kilometres recorded in FY2021/22 alone.
Its most significant distinction is the scale of the planned expansion, particularly the 28,000-kilometre bitumen-upgrading programme for FY2026/27-FY2030/31.
Mong’are maintains that the programme is intended to take infrastructure beyond established highways and historically better-served areas, with improved rural connectivity expected to open access to markets, public services and economic opportunities.