{"id":68874,"date":"2024-07-22T14:03:20","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T14:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/07\/22\/lsk-demands-the-withdrawal-of-road-maintenance-levy\/"},"modified":"2024-07-22T14:03:20","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T14:03:20","slug":"lsk-demands-the-withdrawal-of-road-maintenance-levy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/lsk-demands-the-withdrawal-of-road-maintenance-levy\/","title":{"rendered":"LSK demands the withdrawal of Road Maintenance Levy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 22 \u2013 The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has expressed grave concern over the recent increase in the Road Maintenance Levy (RML), calling it illegal and lacking transparency.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a statement, LSK President, Faith Odhiambo highlighted that the increase in RML was not procedurally published in the Kenya Gazette, as required under the Road Maintenance Levy Fund Act 1993.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMoreover, even if a Gazette Notice was issued in accordance with Section 3 of the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund Act, there is no proof or indication that the amendment to the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (Imposition of Levy) Order, 2016, has to date been laid before Parliament as required by the Statutory Instruments Act,\u201d Odhiambo said.<\/p>\n<p>This comes after the Energy Petroleum and Regulatory Authority, (EPRA), on July 14, 2024, revealed a marginal decrease in petroleum prices which contradicted from the analysis of EPRA\u2019s press release showing an alarming increase in the RML from Sh18 to Sh25 per litre.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis action directly contradicts the explicit assurances from the former Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport, Hon Kipchumba Murkomen, who, in an official statement dated 8 July 2024, reassured Kenyans that the RML would not be increased,\u201d Odhiambo stated.<\/p>\n<p>LSK president criticized Murkomen\u2019s failure to incorporate public feedback during the consultation period, saying it was an act of neglection thereby violating the constitutional requirement for substantive public participation in the law-making process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Ministry of Roads and Transport has failed to adequately incorporate the public\u2019s comments and feedback, which were solicited during the consultation period. The public was unequivocal in its views that an increase in the RML would further exacerbate the cost of living in the country,\u201d Odhiambo noted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis omission constitutes a total disregard for and neglection of the public\u2019s role in governance and policy-making processes, as outlined in Article 10 of the Constitution, which emphasizes public participation as a fundamental component of the national values and principles of governance binding all state organs, state officers and public officers,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Odhiambo referenced a recent High Court judgment that emphasized the importance of consulting the people before making decisions that affect them, underlining the sovereignty of Kenyan citizens in the law-making process.<\/p>\n<p>LSK condemned the illegal increase in RML and called for adherence to constitutional procedures and transparency in decision-making processes, urging the government to address these concerns promptly and ensure that public participation is respected in matters affecting citizens\u2019 livelihoods.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLSK calls for the immediate reversal of this unconstitutional and procedurally flawed action by the Ministry, failing which we will take such measures as may be necessary to ensure full compliance with the law by the Government,\u201d the Society remarked.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 22 \u2013 The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has expressed grave concern over the recent increase in the Road Maintenance Levy (RML), calling it illegal and lacking transparency. In a statement, LSK President, Faith Odhiambo highlighted that the increase in RML was not procedurally published in the Kenya Gazette, as required under [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}