- Machakos budget cuts put bursaries and youth programmes at risk.
- Residents demand answers as key county services remain paralysed.
- Governor Wavinya clashes with MCAs over funding for youth programmes.
Budget cuts for education bursaries, youth empowerment and vocational training programmes are at the centre of the budget stalemate in Machakos County.
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 contentious matter, which has now paralysed critical operations of the County Government, including garbage collection, procurement of medicine for hospitals and payment of staff salaries.
Residents demand MCAs step down
“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 midday 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.
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“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.
Where the cuts fall
In the amended budget, which Governor Wavinya has rejected and referred back to the House, the education bursaries vote was reduced by Ksh30 million, from Ksh121.7 million to Ksh91.7 million, while the entire allocation of Ksh175,862,770 for the Machakos Youth Service was scrapped to zero.
The allocation for the Governor’s Cup, another programme meant to empower the youth, was reduced by Ksh40 million, from Ksh50.6 million to Ksh10.6 million.
Governor disputes reallocation claim
Speaking at the rally, Governor Wavinya dismissed the response by County Assembly Speaker Anne Kiusya that funds meant for MYS had been reallocated to Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutions (TVETs), saying TVETs are a 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,” said Governor Wavinya.
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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