Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has broken down the various levies influencing fuel prices amid growing public anger over the recent hike.
During a Wednesday address on July 16, Mbadi clarified that the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF), which many Kenyans have questioned, has not changed. He emphasized that the Ksh18 per litre collected under this levy continues to fund its original purpose.
“That Ksh18 has not been touched by the government because we know it is being used to maintain our roads,” Mbadi explained.
However, he addressed concerns about the additional Ksh7 added to the levy in a previous adjustment. He said the government redirected those funds to settle long-standing debts owed to road contractors, rather than continue spending on short-lived murram roads that offer little value over time.
“We had a choice to continue misusing this additional 7 shillings, putting it on maram roads across the country, which we don’t even see value for after some time, or use it to get the road contractors back on the road. And that is the route we took,” he said.
Mbadi revealed that road contractors had abandoned their projects due to pending bills amounting to Ksh130 billion, creating a major backlog in infrastructure development.
CS Mbadi: No Apologies To Make
He defended the government’s decision to repurpose the additional Ksh7 per litre fuel levy, calling it a realistic and cost-effective solution to revive the stalled projects without placing extra strain on the national budget.
“If you use even half of that money this financial year and add it to our normal budget of about Ksh57 billion, you’ll have over Ksh120 billion. You will pay all the certificates for the whole financial year,” he said.
He argued that settling these pending bills would allow contractors to resume work across the country, helping complete key infrastructure projects that have remained stagnant for months.
CS Mbadi at the same time dismissed claims that the government secretly or unconstitutionally securitised the additional Ksh7 fuel levy to back a massive Ksh175 billion loan.
Responding to the controversy sparked by Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, who alleged on July 15 that the levy was covertly used as collateral, Mbadi maintained that the entire process was lawful, transparent, and well understood by stakeholders.
“There is nothing, nothing at all secret about securitisation. Everybody knows it,” Mbadi said. “We will continue securitising it, and we have no apologies to make.”
Fuel Prices Not Tied to Road Levy Securitization, Says CS Wandayi
Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi also weighed in on the rising fuel prices, attributing the latest hike to a surge in international shipping and landing costs, not new domestic taxes.
Speaking amid public outrage following Monday’s fuel price review by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), Wandayi clarified that the increases were directly linked to higher landed costs of super petrol, diesel, and kerosene between May and June 2025.
EPRA had announced a notable jump in pump prices, with super petrol increasing by Ksh 8.99, diesel by Ksh 8.67, and kerosene by Ksh 9.65 per litre.
“Since the last revision of the Road Maintenance Levy in July last year there has been no revision of taxes as alluded to in the press statements. The only changes is due to the changes in ad valorem taxes Railway Development Levy (RDL) and Import Declaration Fee (IDF) which depend on the Cost Insurance Freight (CIF) of the product,” Wandayi said.
This is the second consecutive cycle where EPRA failed to tap into the fuel stabilization fund to to cushion consumers.
Wandayi clarified that the current price surge is not tied to the use of RML as collateral to settle pending infrastructure bills, a narrative that has gained traction in recent public discourse.
“It also suffices to note that the government has in the previous pricing cycles intervened in the market and applied stabilization to cushion consumers by keeping pump prices lower than the actual prices in times where the published prices would otherwise have been higher. It is therefore mischievous and factually incorrect to link the recent increase in pump prices with the securitization of the road maintenance levy,” he stated.
