Taita Taveta MCAs stretch olive branch to Samboja for dialogue

The county Assembly leadership has requested governor Granton Samboja (pictured) to convene an urgent meeting to find a solution to the 2019/2020 budget estimates standoff.

Mr Samboja declined to assent to the estimates after ward reps slashed the Executive’s budget and allocated Sh833 million to the Ward Development Fund.

But Members of the County Assembly said they were seeking to reconcile with the governor because the standoff was threatening cohesion, development and service delivery to residents.

“If it has to take a gesture of goodwill from the county Assembly to end this standoff, then so be it. We are doing exactly that today (yesterday). We wish to inform the public that we are keen to put this standoff behind us and seek a lasting solution to the problem,” said Assembly Speaker Meshack Maganga.

He continued: “The ball is firmly in the governor’s court. Our people are looking to us for a solution to the problem.”

Majority Leader Jason Tuja, Chief Whip Abraham Juma, Assembly Clerk Gadiel Maganga and over 20 MCAs attended the news briefing outside the Assembly chambers in Wundanyi town.

Mr Maganga said the administration was witnessing wrangles that called for home-grown solutions even as they sought for assistance from other stakeholders.

“Just like in any home, there will be disagreements and at times grandstanding. This does not necessarily mean the house has collapsed or rendered dysfunctional. There is always a way out of every disagreement,” he told the press.

End standoff

The MCA told Samboja that residents were tired of the unending wrangles and were seeking a permanent solution.

“The first step to ending this standoff is the realisation that no amount of grandstanding from our end or your end shall in anyway stop the challenges that the people of our great county are experiencing.

“We as the county Assembly are ready to engage in open, sincere and honest discourse that will end this disagreement,” Maganga said.

The ward reps’ sentiments came one day before the governor is scheduled to hold a Cabinet meeting and later address the press.

At the weekend, Samboja, through his communication department, maintained that he would not seek dialogue with MCAs despite their readiness to bury the hatchet.

“The governor has not changed his earlier stand in the ongoing stalemate and there is no room for dialogue with the legislative arm,” said Dennis Onsarigo, the county government spokesman.

In an interview with The Standard, Mr Onsarigo promised the governor would make a ‘major’ announcement today on the way forward.

Samboja has so far collected about 50,000 signatures to petition President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve the county.

The governor has held talks with President Kenyatta and opposition leaders Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and Musalia Mudavadi.

He told Uhuru and Raila that his quest to dissolve the county was unstoppable.

The county assembly leadership have met Raila twice while MCAs held talks with Council of Governor’s chairman Wycliffe Oparanya and Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen.

Raila and Oparanya promised to send mediation teams to the county to help resolve the budget stalemate that has bedeviled the county for the past one month.