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| President William Ruto Launching Rironi-Mau Summit |
A fresh legal battle has emerged over the newly launched Rironi–Nakuru–Mau Summit Road project after a petition was filed in the High Court seeking to halt its construction, only hours after President William Ruto officially commissioned the upgrades.
The petition puts the government’s flagship infrastructure project under immediate scrutiny and threatens to delay a corridor relied on by thousands of motorists and transporters daily.
The case, lodged in Nakuru by the Motorists Association of Kenya alongside petitioners Peter Murima, Joyce Wamahiu, and Josphat Kamau, challenges the entire Public-Private Partnership arrangement anchoring the project.
Their argument is blunt: the deal hands over a critical national highway to private and foreign commercial interests under the guise of development, with long-term tolling that they claim will burden Kenyans and weaken the country’s sovereignty.
They insist that roads of this scale should remain under full public control, not converted into profit instruments for concessionaires.
According to the petitioners, the government deliberately delayed expanding the highway for more than 15 years, allegedly creating an artificial justification for privatization.
They argue that the sudden urgency to revamp the road through a PPP, rather than direct public funding, raises red flags about transparency, national economic priorities, and who ultimately benefits from the toll-revenues projected to run for decades.
Their contention is that the model disproportionately advantages politically connected elites and foreign contractors while ordinary citizens are locked into paying perpetual tolls.
The respondents include the Ministry of Roads, KeNHA, the PPP Directorate, the Attorney General, and the contracting firms associated with the project.
Justice Julius Nangea directed that all respondents be served immediately and given seven days to file responses. The matter is set for mention on December 5, a date that could determine whether the project proceeds or stalls at inception.
If the court finds merit in the petition, the government risks an injunction that would freeze construction, potentially disrupting timelines, financial arrangements, and workforce mobilization already tied to the project.
A court-ordered pause could also inflame the national debate on whether toll roads are a sustainable strategy for Kenya’s infrastructure development or a gateway to excessive privatization of public assets.
On the other hand, if the state successfully defends the PPP framework, the project could set a powerful precedent.
It would signal a broader, irreversible shift toward toll-based funding for major highways — a model that may define Kenya’s future transport network for decades.
The petition has now placed the government’s flagship road expansion project at a decisive legal crossroads, with national economic, political, and policy implications hanging in the balance.
