Agency Level Management Of Roads Maintenance Levy Fund: Evidence From Kenya

The Road Maintenance Levy Fund came into existence in 1993 through an Act of Parliament, to facilitate the maintenance of public roads. The Kenya Roads Board administers the Fund and works in collaboration with various implementing agencies. However, anecdotal information suggests that the management of the fund at the agency level is constrained by various challenges, which no systematic academic investigation had ever documented. This study sought to identify key challenges experienced by road agencies to justify reforms towards better management and utilization of the Fund. We applied the cross-sectional survey design to source information from 146 key informants. The study found that political interference, 71.9%, procurement malpractices, 67.1%, funding inconsistency, 64.4%, understaffing, 54.1%, inconsistent communication (28.8%) and delay in auditing (40.4%) were the key challenges affecting operations of road agencies. Initiating appropriate institutional and procedural reforms targeting the Board and road agencies is likely to address the issues. The study recommends the need for new clearer rules, regulations and procedures to curb political interference, linkage between road agencies and enforcement agencies for the procurement law, electronic transfer of funds directly to agency accounts, human resource needs assessment to justify recruitment and rationalization.