President William Ruto's ambitious push to raise KES5 trillion for mega-infrastructure projects has hit a legal wall, after the Katiba Institute filed a petition challenging the constitutionality of the National Infrastructure Act 2026.

In a Constitutional petition filed under a certificate of urgency on Tuesday, Katiba Institute faulted Dr. Ruto's law supporting the building of roads, airports, railway, energy and irrigation systems arguing that it violates the provisions of public finance.

Katiba Institute, which has named Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, the Attorney General and the National Assembly as respondents, argues that the Act lacks provisions for public participation and oversight by Parliament and the office of the Controller of Budget.

"Act encroaches on county functions; excludes counties from sharing in national revenue; and was enacted without the participation of the Senate," Katiba Institute noted in an update on X (formerly Twitter)

Excludes Parliament

The lobby further argued that the Act, which was signed into law by President Ruto last week, undermines core constitutional principles of Public Finance and accountable governance by excluding Parliament from its role in pre-authorising and exercising oversight over national expenditure.

Additionally, the Act has been faulted for excluding the Controller of Budget from overseeing withdrawals from the Fund.

Additionally, the Petition asserts that the Act fails to establish a mechanism to ensure equitable distribution of projects across the country and does not provide for any form of public participation in its implementation, contrary to the Constitution. 

On 9th March, President Ruto signed into law the National Infrastructure Fund (NIF) Bill into law, marking a key step in his administration's push to raise KES5 billion to finance the construction of mega roads, railways, ports, energy and irrigation systems in the country.

At the ceremony, he announced that expansion works at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) will get KES20 billion, being proceeds from the just concluded sale of government stake in Kenya Pipeline Company.

Target projects under NIF

Other than the expansion of JKIA, Dr. Ruto said other key projects in the pipeline for financing from the NIF include construction of the Loosuk–Lessos power transmission link, the Rironi–Naivasha–Mau Summit road, the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) extension from Naivasha to Malaba and the Galana-Kulalu irrigation project.

According to Dr. Ruto, the NIF is a bold plan to build 10,000 megawatts of clean energy, set up of 50 mega dams, 200 micro-dams and over 1,000 small dams across Kenya. It will also finance the construction of 2,500km of dual carriageways and 28,000km of roads in the country.

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