A fresh legal fight has begun over the newly launched Rironi–Nakuru–Mau Summit Road project after activists rushed to the High Court in Nakuru seeking to stop construction just hours after President William Ruto flagged it off.
The Motorists Association of Kenya together with three petitioners Peter Murima, Joyce Wamahiu and Josphat Kamau filed the case on Friday asking the court to suspend all construction and preparatory works on the multi-billion-shilling project.
They want the orders in place until the court decides whether the project is legal, economically sound and genuinely in the public interest.
In their filings, the petitioners say the government’s plan to revive tolling through a Public Private Partnership and a Build Operate Transfer model hands control of a key national transport corridor to private and foreign companies.
They argue this threatens national sovereignty and could trap taxpayers in expensive long-term deals.
Artistic impression of Rironi–Nakuru–Mau Summit Road
They also claim public officials intentionally delayed the expansion of the highway for more than ten years to create a crisis that would justify privatising the road and bringing back toll charges. According to them, political and commercial elites locally and abroad are the ones who stand to benefit from toll revenue and long leases while ordinary Kenyans bear the cost.
The Roads Cabinet Secretary, the Kenya National Highways Authority, the Director of Public Private Partnerships, the China Road and Bridge Corporation, the National Social Security Fund and the Attorney General have been listed as respondents.
Justice Julius Nangea has directed the petitioners to serve all the respondents, who have seven days to file their replies. The case will return to court on December 5 for directions.
The suit was filed on the same day the President launched the project, putting immediate pressure on one of the administration’s biggest infrastructure plans.
President William Ruto has launched the dualling of the Rironi–Nakuru–Mau Summit and Nairobi–Maai Mahiu–Naivasha highways, calling it a turning point in Kenya’s infrastructure development and a model for future projects.
The ceremony took place on Friday in Kamandura, Kiambu County, where he said the roads will not only ease congestion but also create thousands of jobs and equip at least 15,000 young Kenyans with technical skills during construction.
Ruto said the 175 kilometre highway between Nairobi and Mau Summit and the 58 kilometre Nairobi to Naivasha section have for years carried far more traffic than they were designed to handle.
He said delays, accidents and long travel times have cost the economy billions and held back regional trade.
The upgraded corridor will include multiple lanes, new interchanges and modern transport technology to support the daily traffic that is growing by about four percent annually.
The President said the launch marks a shift in how Kenya finances major infrastructure. He argued that relying on the national budget or borrowing was no longer sustainable and that the government must embrace partnerships that bring in private capital and reduce pressure on taxpayers.
He said the Public Private Partnership model used for this road is a “smarter” way of delivering big projects without deepening public debt.
Ruto noted that the project is being implemented by the China Road and Bridge Corporation and the National Social Security Fund and said the partnership brings technology, experience and local capacity-building together.
He said the initiative will give young Kenyans access to practical skills that can be used long after the construction ends.
The highway forms part of the Northern Corridor that links Kenya to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ruto said easing movement along this corridor will strengthen Kenya’s position as the region’s trade hub and reduce the cost of moving goods across borders.
He said the upgrades will make travel safer and more efficient for both long-distance truckers and ordinary road users.
The President announced that his administration will set up a National Infrastructure Fund and a Sovereign Wealth Fund to reduce future reliance on loans.
He said Kenya’s infrastructure gap is significant and noted that since independence the country has built only 22,000 kilometres of tarmacked roads compared to more than one million kilometres built by Japan in a similar historical period.
Ruto also said similar dual carriageway projects will break ground soon across the country including routes in Nairobi, the Coast, Mount Kenya, Nyanza and the Rift Valley.
He urged contractors and state agencies involved in the Rironi–Mau Summit project to uphold integrity and quality, saying the success of the work will depend on discipline and transparency.
He said the new road is about more than paving kilometres and represents Kenya’s determination to improve lives, unlock opportunity and raise its standards.
The Motorists Association of Kenya has unleashed a blistering attack on the government’s handling of the Rironi-Mau Summit highway upgrade, accusing PPP Directorate boss Kefa Seda and the Kenya National Highways Authority of orchestrating a massive betrayal that hands over a vital public artery to foreign profiteers while saddling ordinary Kenyans with decades of hidden debt and inflated costs.
In a fiery statement that has ignited public outrage, MAK Chairman Peter Murima declared the entire PPP scheme a grand deception, designed not to build roads but to enrich Chinese firms at the expense of taxpayers who have already footed the bill through years of fuel levies and taxes.
This is no ordinary infrastructure project, Murima thundered, but a calculated surrender of Kenya’s sovereignty, where the Northern Corridor, the lifeline connecting Mombasa Port to the hinterland, risks falling into foreign hands under the guise of development.
Director General of the Directorate of Public Private Partnerships Eng. Kefa Seda.
Digging into the roots of this scandal reveals a plot that stretches back 15 to 20 years, when former Roads Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau allegedly kickstarted a scheme to replace toll roads with a uniform Road Maintenance Levy Fund, only for powerful lobbyists to deliberately stall the A8 upgrade since 2009.
MAK insists that if KeNHA hadn’t dragged its feet, Kenya would boast a modern highway today, funded entirely by public money and free for all users. Instead, citizens are now staring down glossy presentations of dual carriageways that mask a 30-year concession to private operators, with tolls starting at a shocking Sh8 per kilometer and escalating annually by 1 percent.
For a single trailer hauling goods one way, that could mean an extra Sh20,000 in fees, costs that transporters will inevitably pass on to consumers like Anyango and Chepkurui, trickling down as higher prices for everything from maize to medicine. And the numbers are staggering: the preferred bidder, a consortium led by China Road and Bridge Corporation alongside the National Social Security Fund, stands to rake in a jaw-dropping Sh339.8 billion in profits over the concession period, all while Kenyans pay through the nose for a road they’ve already financed via the Road Maintenance Levy Fund, now bloated to Sh25 per liter of fuel the highest in the region.
What galls MAK even more is the blatant falsehoods peddled by Seda and KeNHA about alternatives.
They claim non-toll routes will be mapped out for those who opt out, but MAK exposes this as a sham, pointing to the tolling policy that explicitly prohibits competing roads to ensure the project’s financial viability.
How can there be choice when the construction hijacks existing public land, forcing motorists into a coercive paywall? Companies like Bechtel and Usahihi wisely walked away years ago, spotting the ethical minefield of building on taxpayer-funded infrastructure, yet China persists, driven not by altruism but by geopolitical ambitions under its Belt and Road Initiative. This isn’t partnership, MAK argues, it’s predation, echoing debt traps that ensnared Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port and Uganda’s Entebbe Airport.
The association reviewed the fine print and confirmed the devilish details: guaranteed minimum traffic volumes, step-in rights for the government if things go south, and revenue assurances that quietly shift billions in liabilities back to the public purse, all denominated in foreign currency to boot.
Government defenders, including Seda, counter that PPPs are essential given Kenya’s debt-to-GDP ratio hovering at 64 percent and the road sector’s desperate need for Sh4 trillion over the next decade.
He portrays the model as a savvy risk transfer, where the private sector handles design, finance, construction, operation, and maintenance for 30 years before handing back a pristine asset. Tolls, he says, will be ring-fenced for safety patrols, lighting, and emergency services, with excess revenues flowing back to the state. KeNHA echoes this, promising transparency and mapping free alternatives from Rironi to Mau Summit, insisting users will save on time, vehicle costs, and lives amid the current chaos of snarls at Salgaa and Rironi.
Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir even posed the rhetorical question: isn’t Sh600 to zip to Nakuru in two hours better than grinding through four-hour jams?
But MAK dismisses these as slick sales pitches, highlighting how the project ballooned from initial estimates, with capital expenditure now at Sh193.4 billion and life-cycle costs adding Sh97.6 billion, financed through 75 percent debt that could haunt future generations.
The timeline only fuels suspicions of foul play. President William Ruto hyped a November 2025 start, but KeNHA now admits construction won’t kick off until 2026 at earliest, pending PPP committee approval amid ongoing negotiations.
A previous French deal crumbled in May over affordability woes, yet here we are, courting CRBC, a state-linked giant whose involvement MAK sees as entrenching economic dependency.
Exponential vehicle growth, documented by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, should have prompted public-funded expansions decades ago, not this rushed pivot to privatization.
MAK’s call is clear and urgent: suspend the deal immediately, publish all agreements and feasibility studies, audit the Road Maintenance Levy Fund, and launch a national dialogue on tolling. Why rush into ceding control of the Northern Corridor, they ask, when a fraction of the Sh600 billion in wasted public funds could upgrade it outright? Motorists could even fund it through a special agreement with KeNHA, proving this isn’t about scarcity but ulterior motives to control port access and cargo flows.
As outrage builds on social media and beyond, with posts decrying the Sh8 per kilometer as outright robbery, the Rironi-Mau Summit saga exposes deeper fissures in Kenya’s infrastructure governance.
Will Seda and KeNHA heed the warnings, or plunge ahead into what MAK brands a betrayal of the social contract?
For now, ordinary Kenyans the wanjikus, atienos, and nekesas are left wondering if their freedom of movement is being auctioned off to the highest foreign bidder, one toll at a time.
President William Ruto has reiterated his administration’s commitment to developing infrastructure.
Speaking in Nakuru, the President said the construction of the long-awaited Rironi–Nakuru–Mau Summit road would be launched soon after a review of its design to accommodate increased traffic.
“I was to launch the construction of this road last month, but when I learnt that it would only be a two-lane dual carriageway, which would be clogged again within nine years, I directed it to be redesigned,” said Ruto during a meeting with grassroots leaders at State House, Nakuru.
The road will now feature a four-lane dual carriageway from Rironi to Naivasha, and six lanes from Naivasha to Nakuru.
Funded under a public-private partnership between China Road and Bridge Corporation and the National Social Security Fund, the project is part of the government’s plan to construct at least 1,000km of dual carriageways across the country.
He said 2027 Madaraka Day celebrations would be held in Nakuru County using the new road.
The President announced that Sh2.6 billion has been allocated for road improvement works in Nakuru County this financial year, while Sh120 billion has been paid to contractors to complete stalled projects nationwide.
He also revealed plans to establish a civilian wing at the Lanet Military Airstrip, saying residents have long expressed the need for an airport.
On electrification, Ruto said the government would spend Sh2.6 billion to connect 22,000 households in the county to the national grid within six months. He added that 21,000 affordable housing units, valued at Sh40 billion, are under construction, alongside 25 modern fresh-produce markets worth Sh3.5 billion and 8,000-bed student hostels.
The President further announced that Afraha Stadium would be completed for Sh500 million, while Olenguruone Stadium will be upgraded and renamed in honour of 1500m world record holder Faith Kipyegon at Sh400 million.
At the Naivasha Special Economic Zone, Ruto said AfriExim Bank will finance infrastructure works worth KSh20 billion.
Later in Marigat, Baringo, President Ruto warned that the government would take decisive action against individuals in possession of illegal firearms in the North Rift.
“Any person holding a firearm without a license should surrender it immediately. We need people to live in peace; the issue of insecurity must stop. We have had it for decades, and it has to end,” he said. [Julius Chepkwony]
at the same time warning illegal gun holders in the North Rift to surrender their weapons.
On universal healthcare, he commended 961,000 residents of Nakuru County for registering under the Social Health Authority (SHA), which he said has paid out over Sh1 billion in medical claims. He also directed the Treasury to release Sh300 million for the completion of the Nakuru Cancer Centre.
Ruto cited improved macroeconomic indicators — including 4.5 per cent inflation, a stable KSh129 exchange rate, and $12 billion in foreign exchange reserves — as proof of economic recovery.
He said ongoing reforms in agriculture, education, and housing have transformed livelihoods, noting that 76,000 teachers have been employed, with 24,000 more to be hired in January 2026.
“This is the highest number of teachers ever employed by any administration in three years since Independence,” he said.
The President warned that the government knows those still holding onto weapons.
During the inspection of the Marigat–Mochongoi road, Ruto said a new contractor has been engaged to ensure the project’s completion.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen echoed the President’s sentiments, saying there would be no negotiations with those hoarding firearms.
“We can recover illegal firearms and arrest banditry financiers in the region. There are only two options: surrender the guns or we come for them,” Murkomen said.
The President, accompanied by Interior CS Murkomen and several MPs from the region, also campaigned for UDA candidate Kiprono Chemitei in the upcoming November 27 by-election.
