Governor Jack Ranguma has said the poor state of roads in the county is a result of the government’s failure to release Sh15 billion for the additional 31,113 kilometres of roads devolved to in March.
He accused the national government of withholding funds meant for counties saying county priority projects and devolved functions had been denied funds.
“We are having our roads in poor condition because the Treasury has not released funds for roads despite having devolved an additional 31,113 kilometres in March," he said.
"This forces us to divert funds from prioritized functions and to maintaining some roads since their current state affects all sectors of our economy,” said Ranguma.
According to the governor, counties cannot raise adequate revenue for roads since infrastructure required enormous funding that most counties cannot raise on their own as expected by the national Treasury."
Mr Ranguma said the national Treasury had no excuse for under-funding devolved functions since they deliberately retained trillions at the national Treasury terming it a government’s plan to fail devolution.
He said wananchi had mounted pressure on the county over the poor state of roads yet there was no money to tarmac, marram or maintain the roads since funds were held at laxity by the government.
Sections of roads used to access the city by residents in rural and sub-urban areas were dilapidated and rarely passable in dry weather and rendered the city inaccessibly during heavy rain seasons.
The governor was speaking in Nyando constituency on Sunday.