Kenyans should not fund roads through tolls, Nyoro warns

Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro addressing a press conference at his office in Nairobi on December 4, 2025 on the privatisation of Government institutions[Boniface Okendo, Standard]

Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro has criticised the government over its plan to introduce a toll on the Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit Highway, saying citizens are being asked to pay for a road the government should provide.

The road, set to cost Sh170 billion, is expected to connect Nairobi to Mau Summit in Nakuru County, with the Nairobi-Nakuru stretch being the busiest and most utilised segment.

Speaking while commissioning the project on November 28, President William Ruto said the highway would reduce travel time, improve safety, and ease congestion.

He added that motorists will pay a toll of Sh 8 per kilometre once the road is completed, with a 1 per cent annual adjustment, and that the funds will cover maintenance and operational costs.

The road is expected to be completed in 2027, with the concession period under the public-private partnership set for 30 years before transferring back to the government.

Speaking on Thursday, December 4, in Nairobi, Nyoro said tolling the road shifts the burden onto citizens.

"These grand terms we hear, infrastructure terms and big money being mentioned, it is to make Kenyans not ask the basic question like increment of day scholars' fee from January, among other basic issues," Nyoro explained.

He questioned why the government could not allow free use of the road, arguing that paying tolls effectively shifts government responsibility onto citizens.

"Now that we are selling stakes for Safaricom, why can't the government allow the use of that road for free? Must we package it as a commercial project," he said.

Nyoro also criticised the lack of alternatives and unprecedented revenue experiments.

"It is the first time in Kenya we are doing an experiment to have Kenyans pay for using a road and deny them an opportunity for alternative, also the first time we are securitizing revenues to be collected for many years, also the first time we are doing off-book borrowing through Talanta and the rest," he noted.

He accused the administration of politicising the Pangani-Muthaiga-Kiambu-Ndumberi road, completed in 2022, saying the delay was for political convenience.

"The government should actually be apologising to the people of Kiambu for delaying the road for three years, but because of the convenience of our politics, had to have it delayed," Nyoro observed.

He called on the Law Society of Kenya, civil society groups, and leaders to safeguard economic growth, warning that securitising future revenue could harm the economy.

"I challenge all of us to please do our bit because the consequences of these things and experiments will be very dire for our economy," he added.