MPs pass Lesuuda Bill forcing KeNHA, KeRRA and KURA to build walkways
Key points
- National Assembly approved the Kenya Roads (Amendment) Bill, 2024, sponsored by Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda.
- KeNHA, KeRRA and KURA would have to plan and build cycling lanes, pedestrian walkways and crossings on roads they control.
- The Bill defines cycling lanes, walkways and non-motorised vehicles and gives police a role enforcing those spaces.
- It now goes to President William Ruto for assent; implementation would hit new projects and designated existing roads.
The Kenya Roads (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is out of the National Assembly and on the President’s desk. Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda wrote it to make cycling lanes, walkways and crossings a legal part of how KeNHA, KeRRA and KURA design roads, Eastleigh Voice reported.
If assented, the three agencies must plan and construct non-motorised facilities on roads they control. The text defines cycling lanes, pedestrian walkways and non-motorised vehicles, says lanes and walkways should be separated from motor traffic, and gives police a role protecting people who use them. Kenya’s crash numbers already show pedestrians, cyclists and riders taking a large share of deaths; walkers on Thika Road-style corridors often share a strip with trucks. The Bill tries to move that from “be careful” to a design duty. After assent the fight becomes money and retrofits: which existing roads get a painted lane, which get a kerb, and who pays when a county already paved the verge for parking.
Assent does not pour a kerb
A definition in the Roads Act will not move a boda off a sidewalk unless the next contract bills a walkway as a pay item. Watch the first KeNHA tender after signature.
Transport desk: Energy & Transport. Verified sponsor, agency names and assent step from Eastleigh Voice.
The three authorities should publish a 12-month retrofit list if the President signs. NTSA should say how it will measure pedestrian deaths on those corridors after works.
Counties should stop treating new walkways as extra parking before the ink dries.
Readers should cross-check any deadline, fee, court date or programme claim against primary gazettes, agency circulars and court records before acting on this report.
Official gazettes, court rulings and agency circulars may update these facts after publication; readers should verify any deadline, fee or court date against primary sources before acting.
Based on Eastleigh Voice reporting of the National Assembly vote. The Bill is not law until assent.
