The High Court has blocked the government from increasing the Road Maintenance Levy which was hiked from Sh18 to Sh25 per litre of fuel.
Justice Gregory Mutai made the ruling pending the hearing of a petition filed by a Mombasa resident George Juma seeking to stop the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) from increasing the levy.
Epra had on July 14, 2024, 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.
Justice Mutai certified the application filed by Juma as urgent and directed the case be heard inter-parties on August 28.
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 judge said.
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While public participation forums on the matter were conducted by the government on July 8, Juma, a taxi driver, argued that the ten centres where it occurred were few.
“That impeded public participation because many Kenyans could not afford to travel to those select and designated centres to give their views,” Juma said.
“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,” he added.
Juma also faulted the Transport cabinet secretary 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,” he said.
The petitioner argued 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.
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