By Anchor Writers

Aftershocks of Governor Wavinya Ndeti’s recent cabinet reshuffle continue to tear through Machakos County, with two Advisers and two Chief Officers’ contracts being abruptly terminated.

It reveals revealing an administration increasingly defined by political anxiety, abrupt purges and a troubling disregard for institutional order.
The four senior officials have now been terminated outright, their contracts abruptly cut short despite having been lawfully set to run until October 2027.

None of the contracts contained termination clauses. Instead, each affected officer has been issued one month’s pay in lieu of notice, a move that insiders say may yet invite legal contestation.
At the centre of the storm is Sameer Aziz, an Adviser for Partnerships, whose exit has been attributed to allegations that he travelled out of the country without the Governor’s approval. While framed administratively, the decision fits a wider pattern emerging within the county executive — where trust, proximity to power and personal clearance increasingly outweigh formal structures.
More politically charged is the removal of Sadja Phillipe, Adviser on Development Initiatives and Secretary General of Chama Cha Wazalendo (CCU).

His termination follows CCU’s recent decision to field a candidate in the Mumbuni North by-election — a race that ultimately posed no threat to Wiper dominance, with the CCU candidate polling fewer than 90 votes.
Yet insiders insist the by-election was merely the spark, not the fire. Sadja is a known and vocal critic of Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and has in recent weeks publicly cautioned him over political engagements with impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. In a county where Wiper’s political grip remains sacrosanct, such criticism, — however reasoned — appears to have crossed an invisible line.

His exit reinforces a growing perception that Machakos has little tolerance for dissenting voices, even when they operate firmly within the advisory space.
Benson Metho’s termination, though less dramatic, had long appeared inevitable. The Chief Officer in the Office of the County Secretary had been sidelined for months, quietly relegated to administrative obscurity.

Within Town Hall, posting a Chief Officer to the office of County Secretary Dr Muya Ndambuki has become shorthand for political cold storage— a bureaucratic cul-de-sac marked by the absence of office space, defined duties or operational authority.

Metho is widely viewed as a political ally of Mavoko MP Makau King’ola, a connection that appears to have sealed his fate in an administration increasingly intolerant of perceived rival centres of influence.

As soon as he got his marching orders, Metho pinned ‘WANTAM’ poster on his Facebook page signalling he was gone for good.
Perhaps the most unsettling termination is that of Maureen Mwende, the Chief Officer for Urban and Physical Planning, now the first CO in Machakos history to be twice suspended. Sources say her earlier troubles stemmed from resistance to approving inflated payments linked to individuals close to the Governor. Her latest fall-out, insiders reveal, arose from her refusal to facilitate the award of a lucrative garbage collection tender to a politically connected Machakos businessman without adherence to procurement law.

Her removal sends a chilling message across the county bureaucracy: procedural fidelity is expendable when it collides with political interests.
Two of the termination letters, The Anchor has established, remain physically uncollected at the office of Dr Ndambuki, even though their recipients are fully aware of their fate. The peculiar arrangement underlines a deeper malaise — an administration marked by fluid authority, blurred command lines and a County Secretary’s office increasingly functioning as a hangman’s chamber, if not a holding bay for political casualties.
The instability has not been confined to these four exits. Last Friday, Bruce Isika, the Chief Officer for Youth and Sports, quietly cleared his desk and reported to the Ministry of Education, leaving the newly restructured Youth and Sports ministry without a substantive Chief Officer.

The ministry is now headed by Ndunge Ndunda, popularly known as Kana Rita, a vocal political figure who has now served in three different ministries within six months following her reinstatement into government last June.
Her rapid redeployments mirror the wider chaos within the executive. Youth and Sports was recently carved out of Gender Development, only for Gender to be controversially merged with Trade — a powerful and politically sensitive docket now handed to Maureen Mutua, a daughter-in-law of Kalonzo Musyoka.

The reshuffle has raised fresh questions about whether governance logic or political calculation is driving executive decisions.
What is emerging in Machakos is an administration increasingly governed by fear of political missteps, where contracts are terminated midstream, technocrats are sacrificed at the altar of loyalty, and ministries are reshaped with little regard for continuity or service delivery.
The implications of these changes extend beyond the four terminated officials. They speak to a county drifting toward executive absolutism — one where governance is subordinated to political survival, and where the cost is ultimately borne by public institutions and the people they are meant to serve.
The Anchor will continue to follow the unfolding fallout.

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