- Justice Gregory Mutai certified the application filed by one George Juma as urgent and directed the case be heard inter parties on August 28
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The high court in Mombasa has issued orders stopping Epra from enforcing the new Road Maintenance Levy Fund which was hiked from Sh18 to Sh25 per litre of fuel.
Justice Gregory Mutai certified the application filed by one George Juma as urgent and directed the case be heard inter parties on August 28.
On July 14, 2024, Epra announced an increase in the RML from Sh18 to Sh25 per litre of fuel.
Initially, the levy was set at Sh18 per litre of fuel but the Kenya Roads Board (KRB) proposed a 39 per cent increase.
The order was issued after Juma argued that the levy fund was enacted without meaningful public participation.
“Pending the hearing of the Notice of Motion dated August 2, 2024, a conservatory order is hereby issued, restraining the respondents, either jointly and or severally, whether by themselves, their officers, agents, employees or other person or entity acting under the respondents' instructions, from implementing and enforcing the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (Imposition) Order 2024,” the order reads.
Public participation forums were conducted by the government on July 8 but Juma, a taxi driver says the ten centres where it occurred were very few and covered wide catchment areas.
"That impeded public participation because many Kenyans could not afford to travel to those select and designated centres to give their views," the petitioner said.
Juma also urged the state only designated one which was not sufficient.
"As a taxi driver, I was not able to attend on the designated date because on that day I was busy working. If they had scheduled more days, I would have had a chance to give my views," Juma said.
He explains that not everybody has access to newspapers, the mode used by the government to invite the public to give their views.
"They should have sent out the invitation through other means such as radio and television which have a wider reach," he said.
Juma has faulted CS Transport and Epra for failing to sensitise members of the public on the rate, rationale and impact of the proposal to increase the road maintenance levy.
"The call for the public to submit views and memoranda was not useful because the public remained largely ignorant of the process. For instance, I was not made aware of why there was a need to increase the levy," poses Juma.
He argues that the levy as imposed by the government is harsh and not in touch with reality as many Kenyans are currently facing hard economic times.