- A budget stalemate over cuts to bursaries, the Machakos Youth Service has paralysed county operations, including salary payments and hospital medicine procurement.
- Hundreds of residents have protested in Machakos Town, demanding that MCAs be voted out over the scrapping of the Machakos Youth Service programme.
- Governor Wavinya has rejected the amended budget and disputed Speaker Anne Kiusya’s claim that MYS funds were reallocated elsewhere.
Budget cuts for education bursaries, youth empowerment and vocational training programmes are at the centre of a budget stalemate in Machakos County that has now paralysed critical government operations, including garbage collection, procurement of medicine for hospitals and payment of staff salaries.
The standoff brought Machakos Town to a near-standstill on Wednesday as hundreds of residents from various sub-counties converged at the town centre to protest what they termed as deliberate attempts by the County Assembly to sabotage Governor Wavinya Ndeti’s administration. Governor Wavinya later addressed the crowd after listening to their views on the matter.
“We called the governor to come and listen to us. She is not the one who called us. We are very worried by the budget stalemate at the County Assembly. Today we declare that all MCAs in that Assembly must go home. We are sweeping all of them,” said an irate resident who spoke at the rally.
The residents took issue with the Assembly’s move to scrap the Machakos Youth Service (MYS), which they said was transforming the lives of youth from poor backgrounds. “We did not elect the MCAs to serve their own interests. They did not consult us before scrapping the MYS. MYS was serving the children of the poor while MCAs have money to educate their children in expensive schools,” said another resident.
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In the amended budget, which Governor Wavinya has rejected and referred back to the House, the education bursaries vote was reduced by Ksh 30 million, from Ksh 121.7 million to Ksh 91.7 million, while the entire Ksh 175,862,770 allocation for the Machakos Youth Service was scrapped to zero. The allocation for the Governor’s Cup, another youth empowerment programme, was reduced by Ksh 40 million, from Ksh 50.6 million to Ksh 10.6 million.
Speaking at the rally, Governor Wavinya dismissed a response by County Assembly Speaker Anne Kiusya that funds meant for MYS had been reallocated to TVETs, saying TVETs fall under the mandate of the National Government. She said counties have the mandate to run Vocational Training Centres (VTCs), not TVETs. “Yesterday I heard the Speaker say that they had reallocated the funds for MYS to TVETs, which are a function of the National Government. You can’t remove money from the county to take to the National Government,” Governor Wavinya said.
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Speaker Kiusya had earlier said she had returned the budget referred to the Assembly back to the sender as it was “not admissible,” a position that has been contested by the County Executive, with legal experts terming it a “pocket veto in reverse” not provided for under Section 24 of the County Governments Act.
By Stephen Muthini
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