Machakos County Governor Wavinya Ndeti.
A protracted budget standoff pitting Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti against a section of MCAs has intensified after she rejected changes made by the County Assembly to the Sh17.8 billion 2026/2027 budget, setting the stage for a fresh showdown between rival factions in the Assembly.
The Assembly has less than two weeks to reconsider its decision to slash Sh853 million from the budget after Ms Ndeti submitted a memorandum challenging the amendments during a dramatic appearance at the Assembly on Monday.
Ms Ndeti confronted County Assembly Clerk Peter Mbatha when she stormed the Assembly premises accompanied by County Secretary Muya Ndambuki, Finance Executive Catherine Mutanu and other senior county officials.
She accused Mr Mbatha of working closely with Assembly Speaker Anne Kiusya to frustrate her efforts to secure consideration of the proposed changes.
“Why don't you just receive the memorandum as required by law and let me square it out with the MCAs?” she told a visibly shaken Mr Mbatha.
After the clerk certified the documents as received, Ms Ndeti said she could not endorse the amended budget because it threatened essential services.
“I cannot in good conscience sign into law a legislation that openly violates statutory limits, dismantles essential public services and directly imperils the lives of our people,” she said.
The memorandum, a copy of which the Nation has seen, outlines the governor’s objections to the Assembly’s amendments and makes the case for retaining the Sh17.8 billion budget.
Ms Ndeti argues that the MCAs’ decision to revise the budget downwards is illegal and could cripple service delivery by the devolved government.
The cuts mainly target road projects and some of the governor’s flagship programmes including the Machakos Youth Service, a milk programme for preschool children and the planned Wikwatyo Fund, an affordable credit facility.
Ms Ndeti said the reductions would significantly undermine service delivery and urged the MCAs to reconsider their decision.
But MCAs opposed to the governor’s proposals say the changes followed scrutiny of questionable expenditure and were intended to eliminate waste and duplication.
“The governor calls the changes budget cuts. We call them budget scrutiny, reprioritisation and reallocation. We are against wastage and duplication. We are pushing for value for money,” said Kalama MCA Boniface Maeke.
On the proposed Wikwatyo Fund which had Sh100 million allocated to it, Mr Maeke said MCAs had questioned the establishment of a loan scheme without an enabling legal framework.
The Machakos County Assembly during a past session.
The budget dispute is the latest instalment in a longstanding political confrontation between Ms Ndeti and a section of the MCAs with Ms Mutanu at the centre of the latest standoff.
Ms Ndeti sacked Ms Mutanu in July on the day she faced an impeachment motion by MCAs who accused her of incompetence, abuse of office and gross violation of the Constitution.
The governor reinstated her a week later after the High Court intervened following a petition challenging her dismissal.
The latest budget confrontation follows an earlier decision by the Assembly to allow Ms Ndeti to withdraw 50 per cent of the 2026/2027 budget pending approval of the Appropriation Bill.
The standoff took a new turn two weeks ago when a section of MCAs passed the amended budget while a group of Wiper MCAs was visiting former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua at his home in Nyeri County.
“They bragged that they had outsmarted us,” Machakos Majority Leader and Machakos Central MCA Nzioka Wangondi told the Nation.
Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti.
The Assembly passed the revised budget barely a week after Wiper Patriotic Front leader Kalonzo Musyoka waded into the dispute and accused President William Ruto of attempting to frustrate Ms Ndeti’s administration.
Mr Musyoka claimed that the President was determined to ensure the Machakos budget did not pass.
“Mr Ruto you have dispatched former State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita, who has joined UDA, and Machakos Speaker Anne Kiusya with a clear brief; frustrate this Wiper governor until the electorate loses confidence in her,” Mr Musyoka said during a Sunday church service.
Ms Kiusya and Mr Waita have since dismissed the claims as baseless.
“I am neither a member of the county assembly nor of the county executive of Machakos County. It is therefore quite impossible for me to influence the decisions of either party,” Mr Waita told the Nation.
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