By Martin Masai

Governor Wavinya Ndeti is back to the drawing board to urgently replace two ministers in two crucial ministries – water and health.
This comes after a cabinet reshuffle that effectively removed current Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Catherine Mutanu from the water docket where she has been acting.

Her departure also underscores Wavinya’s resolve to get her out of the docket since July, when she appointed her to lead the Agriculture docket and left her holding forte in acting capacity.The governor then embarked on seeking her successor, an effort that has remained ill-fated.

Twice, Wavinya has headhunted two women for the job. First, the governor picked Elizabeth Katile Mutua. Katile abandoned the job by failing to present herself to the Machakos County Assembly for vetting.Wavinya then appointed Rose Kamene Mwanthi Gichuki, Family Bank’s Head of Women Banking. She declined to take up the post of Water, Irrigation, Environment, and Climate Change Minister despite receiving the approval of the Machakos County Assembly last month. Her approval was granted on September 3, 2024. She declined the offer, saying that taking it up would not currently be in her best interests.

Questions abound why the two women grew cold feet and abandoned the quest to hold the coveted posts created in Kenya’s 2010 constitution that ushered in devolution. No reasons have been provided for this development. However, the ministry is considered a minefield due to the reported shadowy (mis)use of Kes 73m to allegedly desalt dams during Wavinya’s first year.

Wavinya is also facing pressure from the National Gender and Equality Commission to appoint a person living with disability to her cabinet.At the Ministry of Health, Wavinya is hunting for a replacement of Dr Daniel Yumbya who, in August, quit owing to frustration within the government.

As of the time of publishing, The Anchor can confirm that Wavinya forwarded Health Chief Officer Justus Kasivu’s name for consideration as Health Minister to the assembly.
Trouble at the ministry is defined by a department that raises millions of cash each month but is always in dire need of cash to buy consumables for its hospitals due to a big cash broom at the County Treasury.

The urgency for a Health Minister for Wavinya is woven into a matrix of issues which include a raging doctors’ strike who are demanding that previously promised perks are met. This is further complicated by the government’s declaration that it is unable to pay, and a worryingly deteriorating state of health provision.The current stalemate will leave hospitals in dire straits as Wavinya contemplates dismissing the striking medics and employing fresh general practitioners.

Moreover, there is a structural problem in the county government, which governor remains unwilling to resolve: the Department of Health generates millions of shillings in revenue each month which can not be used to improve its infrastructure or purchase the needed consumables to support daily operations.

Sources within the administration reveal that once the revenue hits the department’s accounts, Finance Minister Onesmus Kuyu uses his overriding signature to sweep the cash to county coffers, leaving hospitals and hordes of poor residents who struggle to find food in dire need, effectively crippling the delivery of quality health care in the county. Each hospital has its daily sad episodes as health workers toil to help suffering patients where staff are reportedly buying items to save lives in hospitals.

A recent law passed by the County Assembly to allow hospitals use part of the funds within the Facility Improvement Financing (FIF) is yet to take effect and there are no guarantees that the law will remove Kuyu’s overriding powers.