By Martin Masai
Much as the Machakos County Assembly approved a Ksh17.797 billion budget for 2026/27, the fine print reveals a total eclipse of Governor Wavinya Ndeti’s pet two programmes — Machakos Youth Service and the Wikwatyo Fund.
While Speaker Anne Kiusya described the budget as a major investment in youth, women and vulnerable groups, the approved estimates show that the Governor’s flagship programs have been completely wiped out of the budget within their known framework.
The amendmends and approval to the estimates is explicit. It was done at a time loyalist Wiper MCAs led by Majority Leader Nicholas Nzioka were away politicking at Wamunyoro, Nyeri County at the behest of Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka.
The allocation for Machakos Youth Service was cut from Ksh175,862,770 to zero.
There is no ambiguity in the figure. The programme loses the entire Ksh175.862 million that had been proposed for it.
The money has effectively been redirected towards other forms of youth development such as play grounds.
Vocational Training Services, for example, has had its development allocation increased from Ksh10 million to Ksh56 million, an increase of Ksh46 million.
This is a significant change in approach.
Instead of maintaining MYS as a development programme, the Assembly has chosen to put more money into development of Vocational Training Centres, institutions with a more accountable anf conventional structure for delivering skills training.
The decision is likely to reignite questions about MYS, which has long been associated with youth empowerment but has also faced questions over its accountability framework. The shift will certainly send Wavinya shooting from the hip- and may well reject the budget in a memorandum to the assembly.
The programme has previously operated without regulations governing how its resources are administered and accounted for.
That makes the Assembly’s decision to reduce its allocation to zero particularly significant and is a clear battle ground between the county assembly and the executive.
It is also difficult to reconcile with the political language used to sell the budget. While Speaker Kiusya says the Assembly approved Ksh100 million for the Wikwatyo Fund, together with another Ksh100 million for the empowerment of women, youth and special groups, there is nothing to show in the actual budget.
The approved vote lines have nothing listed under Wikwatyo Fund that was initially intended to get Ksh 137m.
But Wikwatyo has all along presented a different accountability problem.
The Assembly rejected the fund last December after Governor Wavinya Ndeti failed to publish regulations governing its operation.
Those regulations were important because Wikwatyo involves the distribution of public money to community groups, including youth and women’s groups.
Without clear rules, questions inevitably arise over eligibility, selection of beneficiaries, disbursement, oversight and accountability.
” Wikwatyo is a low lying fruit for the Governor. Crowds will mill arround her during the election season and the assembly cannot put the fruit in her bag” said a Wiper MCA who spoke pleading to remain anonymous.
The fund has consequently been viewed by its critics as a potential political slush fund for the Governor and the Wiper Patriotic Front, particularly because the country has moved into an election year.
The attraction is obvious.
A fund capable of placing millions of shillings in the hands of the governor to dish out to youth and women’s groups provides considerable political visibility.
But the issue is not whether the money can be spent.The issue is whether it can be spent transparently, objectively and under enforceable rules.
The Speaker’s claim that Ksh100 million has been allocated to Wikwatyo is certainly a political statement that can not be supported in the approved budget and therefore deserves closer examination.
The detailed material supplied for the approved budget does not identify a standalone Wikwatyo allocation by name.
That leaves an important question for the Assembly and the county executive: where exactly is the Ksh100 million contained, and under what programme will it be administered?
The contrast with MYS is striking.
MYS, which has been criticised for weak accountability arrangements, has been given zero.
Under Approval of Report of Budget Estimates for the FY 2026/2027 seen by The Anchor, on Recurrent Vote 0009 on Education Department, item iii says ” In P02 Machakos Youth Service by deleting the figure 175,862,770 and substituting therefor(sic) the figure”0″.”
Wikwatyo, whose previous approval was blocked because of missing regulations, is presented by the Speaker as receiving Ksh100 million.
In probing the approved budget estimates, The Anchor discovered a observation of the budget and Appropriations Committee that sealed the fate of Wikwatyo Fund.
The observation says ” Some items that are normally classified as of recurrent nature have been budgeted for under development e.g. Research and feasibility studies… capital transfers e.g. Wikwatyo Fund, Table Banking, Youth Fund and Empowerment of women…The committee is concerned as to whether the allocations will be absorbed at their current classification and recommends that they be declassified to recurrent votes”.
And there ends the story of Wikwatyo Fund.
The overall budget itself has grown significantly.
The Assembly approved Ksh11.505 billion for recurrent expenditure and Ksh6.292 billion for development, bringing the total to Ksh17.797 billion.
Health takes the largest share at Ksh5.712 billion, representing 32.1 per cent of the budget.( See the Approved Budget Schedule)
Roads and transport receive substantial development funding, with the portfolio allocated Ksh1.715 billion for development.
Road Development and Management alone gets Ksh537.719 million.
Education development funding rises from Ksh112.621 million to Ksh252.121 million.
Vocational Training Services rises from Ksh10 million to Ksh56 million.
These are real increases.
But they should not obscure what happened to MYS. The Assembly did not trim MYS.It did not restructure the allocation. It did not reduce it by half.
It took Ksh175.862 million and reduced it to zero- showing a resolve to face Wavinya head-on.
That is the clearest statement in the budget about the Assembly’s confidence in the programme- Zero.
The Assembly has a constitutional responsibility to oversee the use of public money.
Its job does not end when it passes the budget.
It must ensure that the money is subsequently spent according to clear rules, reaches the intended beneficiaries and produces measurable results.
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