The simmering political and budget war between Governor Julius Malombe’s administration and the Kitui County Assembly has now exploded into open confrontation after Speaker Kevin Kinengo Katisya launched a blistering public attack against the County Executive, accusing it of illegally manipulating county budgets, frustrating Assembly operations, sponsoring online propaganda, and undermining the independence of the Legislature.
Speaking exclusively on Wednesday during an interview with a local television station, Speaker Kinengo declared that the Assembly would not approve what he termed as an unconstitutional and illegitimate budget, escalating an already tense standoff that has thrown both Kitui’s supplementary and main FY 2025/2026 budgets into uncertainty.
“I will not serve as a rubber stamp to commit a budget that fails to conform with the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and national legislations,” Kinengo said.
The Speaker directly blamed Governor Malombe’s administration for the current budget crisis, accusing the Executive of repeatedly frustrating Assembly development plans by allegedly taking away funds allocated for the construction of MCA ward offices and Assembly offices.
According to Kinengo, Members of County Assembly remain the only elected leaders in Kitui without proper offices to serve wananchi at the grassroots level.
“We want a conducive working environment for our Assembly representatives and we will not back down,” the Speaker stated.
‘They Took Our Ksh 100 Million’
In one of his strongest attacks yet against the Executive, Kinengo claimed the Assembly had previously surrendered Ksh 100 million allocated for construction of Assembly offices during the last financial year after the Executive reportedly requested the funds for development projects.
However, he now accuses the Executive of once again targeting Ksh 85 million earmarked for MCA ward office construction.
“They forcefully took our Ksh 100 million which we had set aside for Assembly office construction in the last financial year in the name of development and we played cool. Now they want to take the Ksh 85 million allocated for ward office construction. We will not back down this time round,” Kinengo said.
The Speaker questioned why the Executive was allegedly targeting Assembly allocations despite controlling the largest share of the county budget.
“Out of the Executive’s Ksh 15 billion budget, only Ksh 5.3 billion is for development while Ksh 9.7 billion goes to recurrent expenditure. Why can’t they use theirs instead of taking ours?” he posed.
Speaker Alleges Propaganda Funding and Political Intimidation
In explosive remarks likely to deepen the fallout between the two arms of government, Kinengo further accused sections of the Executive of using public funds to finance propaganda campaigns against the Assembly and sponsor attacks aimed at intimidating MCAs online.
The Speaker singled out what he described as excessive hospitality and operational expenditures within the Executive budget.
He claimed the Executive had allocated Ksh 380 million for hospitality expenses, alongside Ksh 1.3 billion in recurrent expenditure and another Ksh 80 million for operational costs which, according to him, are being used to hire bloggers and fuel online political wars against the Assembly.
“They are using public resources to sponsor propaganda and stage war against the Assembly online,” Kinengo alleged.
He went even further, accusing the Executive of allegedly funding goons using taxpayers’ money to interfere with Assembly affairs and intimidate critics.
“If the Executive stages war against us, we shall constitutionally defend ourselves. We will not pass an illegitimate budget,” he warned.
Fresh Questions Over Stadium Wall and Affordable Housing Funds
The Speaker also poked holes in several controversial allocations contained in the supplementary budget estimates returned to the Executive.
Among the projects questioned was a proposed Ksh 35 million allocation for construction of a perimeter wall at Ithookwe Stadium, which Kinengo argued remains a national government project that has not officially been handed over to the county government.
He also questioned continued allocation of county funds toward the Affordable Housing Programme in Kitui, insisting the project remains under the national government.
The Assembly boss further accused the County Treasury of inflating pending bills figures without accountability.
He demanded that a full pending bills list be tabled before the Assembly, claiming the county’s pending bills had now ballooned to Ksh 2.2 billion.
Relationship Between Executive and Assembly ‘Not Good’
Asked directly whether the relationship between the County Executive and the Assembly remained healthy, Kinengo openly admitted that ties between the two institutions had deteriorated.
He accused the Executive of repeatedly interfering with Assembly affairs while failing to account for funds allegedly reallocated from the Legislature’s development budget.
“The relationship is not good,” the Speaker admitted candidly.
The remarks now expose the deep political mistrust and growing hostility between Governor Malombe’s administration and the Assembly leadership at a time when succession politics, control of county resources, and 2027 political alignments are increasingly shaping governance battles inside Kitui.
Budget Crisis Deepens
As the standoff escalates, both the FY 2025/2026 Supplementary Budget and the main county budget estimates now stand rejected and returned to the Executive for review, setting the stage for what insiders describe as intense behind-the-scenes negotiations in the coming days.
But beyond the legal and fiscal arguments now lies a much bigger political battle — one involving power, control of county resources, institutional independence, and the future political direction of Kitui County.
