Ministers John Mbadi (National Treasury), Opiyo Wandayi (Energy), Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives), Beatrice Askul (Regional Development) and Hassan Joho (Mining and the Blue Economy) were supposed to be the saviours of the Kenya Kwanza administration.
They joined the government to support a regime under threat from a Gen Z uprising in 2024 — the same government they had fiercely opposed after the 2022 elections.
However, the ongoing fuel crisis and the matatu strike this week have exposed their vulnerabilities.
It has reignited questions about the expertise of the much-discussed, broad-based government 'experts', who have been left floundering in their handling of the protests in President William Ruto's absence.
To observers, the strike exposed the limited expertise of Mr Wandayi and Mr Mbadi, who struggled to respond to the crisis.
While the country looked to these two ministers for an "expert solution", it turned out they were bereft of ideas and failed to live up to their "expert" tag.
It took a joint intervention of other government officers to reach a compromise with representatives from the transport sector, a day later, with Mr Wandayi cutting a figure of a relieved man during the presser to announce the agreement.
CS Wandayi had it rough on Monday evening with his attempts to midwife a truce, leaving him with an egg on the face as the representatives accused him of prematurely declaring a truce.
Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum Opiyo Wandayi when he appeared before the Senate on May 6, 2026.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
“With all due respect, we did say we are going to communicate here clearly and openly that we have not agreed on anything so that we can carry this conversation forward. We did not agree on anything,” said Mr Kennedy Kaunda, a trade union representative.
The meeting followed an afternoon directive by President Ruto – thousands of miles away in Baku, Azerbaijan – to Treasury, Energy, Transport and Interior ministers to have a sit-down with oil marketers and transport sector stakeholders in order to look for ways of reducing fuel prices, with the country teetering on the brink of total paralysis.
His counterpart, Mr Mbadi, did not fare any better, only insisting the factors driving the fuel prices up were beyond the government’s control.
After the Monday standoff that did not yield any tangible results, Nairobi Governor Johson Sakaja was among those tasked by President Ruto to mediate between the matatu stakeholders and the government. Mr Sakaja is said to have persuaded the operators and owners to soften their stance. He was a guarantor on the side of the transport players.
President William Ruto, flanked by Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi (left) and Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, rings the bell to mark the start of trading for the Kenya Pipeline Company shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange on March 11, 2026.
Photo credit: PCS
The trio of Oparanya, Joho and Askul have, however, not faced the same level of public scrutiny over their performance as their two “broad-based experts” counterparts. It could perhaps be due to the nature of the dockets they head.
The president, however, appears to have confidence in them. While addressing wananchi during a prayer meeting at Agoro Sare High School in Kasipul Constituency on March 22, 2026, during a series of political tours in Nyanza, he praised Mr Mbadi as an individual who understands things fast and knows how to navigate issues.
While appearing on NTV’s Fixing the Nation show on Monday morning, the CS said they were waiting for the president to return from Azerbaijan to convene a meeting of the Executive in order to find a solution to the strike.
According to Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, Mr Mbadi and Mr Wandayi should have left the Cabinet long ago, especially after substandard fuel infiltrated the market.
Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning John Mbadi.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
“I urge the National Assembly to start initiating the process of removing both Mbadi, and Wandayi and I suggest to the two to leave instead of waiting to be removed or reshuffled,” said Mr Khalwale.
Apart from the fuel crisis, Mr Mbadi has recently found himself embroiled in a dispute with the late Raila Odinga’s family over control of ODM and Luo Nyanza succession politics.
The CS has been engaged in a war of words with Raila’s sister, Kisumu Woman Representative Ruth Odinga, and Odinga’s daughter Winnie over remarks he made during an ODM retreat in Mombasa on May 4, which were widely interpreted as disparaging the late opposition chief.
Odinga’s widow, Ida and his son Raila Junior also responded to Mr Mbadi, both calling for respect for the family and Odinga’s legacy.
During the burial of Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka’s mother last Friday, Ms Winnie, who is also a member of the East African Legislative Assembly, told Mr Mbadi to focus on his duties because the country is in poor economic shape.
Political analyst Salim Odeny defended the two ministers, saying they have not performed as poorly as people suggest because they found themselves in a government which had too many economic issues.
ODM Youth Leader John Ketorah added that the issues of runaway taxes by the government did not start yesterday, but during the last regime.
“The issue of increase in fuel prices is global and we should work on reducing the fuel levies and other taxes instead of using the issue politically to demand for the exit of the two ministers. Mr Mbadi is an expert on economic issues and so he has not failed in any way,” said Mr Ketorah.
