Group petitions Mombasa court to stop road levy

Epra Director General Daniel Kiptoo. [File, Standard]

President William Ruto has run into a fresh taxation hurdle after a human rights lobby group filed a petition at the Mombasa High Court seeking to stop the implementation of the Road Maintenance Levy Fund.

Haki Yetu Organisation said the fuel levy increase from Sh18 to Sh25 per litre was unconstitutional, illegal, unreasonable, and harsh.

Through lawyer Willis Oluga, the group said the levy that came into effect on July 15, 2024, lacked public participation.

The lobby sued the Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport, the Kenya Roads Board (KRB), the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), and the Attorney General.

Oluga said that despite illegality and unconstitutionality, the respondents have commenced implementation, enforcement, and giving effect to the road maintenance levy.

Haki Yetu Programme Coordinator for governance, Mr Marius Kioko, said that former CS Kipchumba Murkomen imposed the fuel levy on premium petrol, regular petrol, and gas oil at Sh25,000 for every 1000 litres at 20 degrees centigrade.

He said that the proponents of the levy were not present to justify the rationale and objective of the proposed levy increment and that the beneficiaries of the fund, Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KERRA) and Kenya National Highway Authority (KENHA) were not conversant with the formulae used to justify the proposal.

Kioko said there was a lack of public participation and the respondents did not consider the impact of the enactment of the order on the public.

“The road maintenance levy fund 2024 was published and promulgated by Murkomen without adequate, effective, meaningful, proper and tangible public participation and therefore contrary to and in violation of Article 10 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010,” said Kioko.

Justice Stephen Githinji certified the matter as urgent and directed the applicants to serve the respondents before August 8, 2024.

The judge said that the main pillar upon which the application and petition was founded is that the Road Maintenance Levy Fund was published and promulgated without public participation which is allegedly in violation of Article 10 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.

The petitioners sought conservatory orders to restrain the government from implementing, the Road Maintenance Levy Fund.

“Having weighed the foregoing, I do certify the application urgent but decline to issue the sought-for orders ex-parte. I, therefore, direct that the application be served upon the respondents for filing of their responses and the matter be mentioned virtually on August 8 2024 for further directions,” said Justice Githinji.

Kioko said that the public fora purported to have been held on July 8 2024 by the respondents was under short notice, marred by deliberate confusion, and just a mirage, cosmetic and mere formality.

“The respondents put up a public notice on its website which turned out to be unreliable because the same was not accessible until 72 hours before the deadline for submitting comments on July 5, 2024,” said Kioko.

Kioko said the 10 public participation stations were few and sparsely distributed.

He said the KRB published a notice on X (formerly Twitter) on July 4 2024 at 2031 hours indicating that the public participation meeting in the 10 counties had been cancelled, which confused him.

“For instance, in the Coast Region which comprises six counties of Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River, Lamu and Taita Taveta. The respondents created only one public participation centre in Mombasa. In Nairobi, they created one only at Transcom House and in the entire North and Eastern Region, it Was created in Garissa,” said Kioko.

Kioko said the venues were also inaccessible to the disabled persons who wished to give their views and the proposal was only posted on the KRB website which most Kenyans did not know about and could not access.

“The respondents did not sensitise the members of the public on the rate, rationale, and impact of the proposal to increase road maintenance levy,” said Kioko.