NEWS FEATURE

By  Anchor Writers

At this year’s Devolution Conference in Homa Bay County, Governor Wavinya Ndeti took to social media with a celebratory post, painting a glossy picture of Machakos County’s “value-added agricultural transformation.”

The post, wrapped in the conference theme “For the People, For Prosperity: Devolution as a Catalyst for Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice”, claimed that Machakos is empowering its farmers to move from subsistence to agribusiness through agro-processing, job creation, and innovative industries.

On the exhibition floor, the county’s stand was visually impressive — neatly stacked jars of honey, attractively packaged fruit products, dairy items in branded wrappers, and delicately carved wooden sculptures alongside woven sisal baskets.

For the casual visitor, it was a showcase of progress. For those who know the county’s history, it was déjà vu.

The truth is that every single one of the products on display predates the Wavinya administration — and, in most cases, devolution itself, and certainly, both former Governor Alfred Mutua and her self.

Wamunyu’s world-class wood carvings, for instance, have been internationally recognised for decades, long before county governments existed.

Similarly, the famous Machakos sisal baskets are as old as the memories of the artisans who still weave them in village courtyards. Honey production is a household tradition in many Machakos homes, often sold raw or in simple jars at local streets, homes, and markets. Local fruit processing — particularly of mangoes — has been part of cooperative and private sector efforts for years.

Yet, there is no county-owned honey refinery, no public agro-processing plant that can be credited to the current administration, and no significant infrastructural investment in farmer-led value addition since Wavinya took office.

Sadly, the only known cold storage for agricultural products in Machakos was closed down by the first administration when it was converted to be the first Governor’s office.

The current administration has perpetuated the ‘first sin’ by making the cooling plant the office of the current Deputy Governor.

The county government’s role in the displayed items was not in production, but in procurement — buying finished, market-ready products from producers, hiring skilled display consultants, dressing up county staff in matching attire, and passing the goods off as “county-enabled” development.

“It’s window dressing,” says a senior county official who spoke to The Anchor on condition of anonymity. “We’re not investing in the means of production — only in the illusion of output…But Do I say?.”

The rot runs deeper. Several insiders allege that for many staff members, the Devolution Conference was more of a paperwork trip than an actual duty call. Attendance lists were filled to justify hefty travel and subsistence allowances, even for officers who never left Machakos and, if they did, only took detours to perfect the deception.

What the public saw in Homa Bay was not the fruit of strategic county planning or the outcome of empowering farmers, but a borrowed display of Machakos’ long-standing heritage, repackaged for political credit and thievery.

In the spirit of the conference theme, genuine prosperity would mean investing in farmer cooperatives, building real processing plants, offering extension services, and creating market linkages that benefit producers directly.

It would mean lifting small-scale producers into competitive, self-sustaining enterprises — not using their sweat and skill as stage props.
Instead, the Machakos story at the 2025 Devolution Conference may be remembered not as a tale of economic transformation, but as a case study in how political theatrics hijack heritage, and how public funds can be siphoned under the cover of national pageantry.
As Kioko Mwavu, one elderly artisan from Wamunyu, put it after being shown the Governor’s post: “We have been doing this work since before she was born. The county didn’t teach us how to carve. But they have learnt how to take photos.”

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