Wavinya Ndeti: I found a dysfunctional public service in Machakos County
By Nancy Marende, August 21, 2025Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti has revealed that she inherited a dysfunctional public service system upon assuming office from her predecessor, Alfred Mutua, forcing her administration to rebuild structures from the ground up.
Speaking at a local TV station on Thursday, August 21, 2025, Wavinya said she found no policy frameworks or manuals to guide staff, including critical human resource policies.
“It was a dysfunctional public service. People were just there, no structures, no nothing. There was no policy manual for frameworks, including HR policies. We had to start from scratch,” she stated.
Further, the governor disclosed that her administration has since developed at least 10 new policies to provide direction and accountability in the county.
“We had to come up with 10 new policies for people to be guided; without that, people live and let live. Even when a worker is fired, they don’t know what to fall back to because when you fire a worker, you need to follow procedures. Even sexual harassment policies were not there,” she added.
While raising concerns about the lack of operational structures, Wavinya acknowledged that the Machakos State House was in good condition, praising her predecessor for leaving behind a functional office despite minor public works issues.
“Machakos State House is good. I can say he left a good office. There’s no question about that. Although it has public works issues, it is a good office.”
This comes a few days after the county government of Machakos announced that it is ready to negotiate with nurses to end the ongoing strike.
Nurses’ strike
Nurses in Machakos abandoned their work stations in early August as the dispute between them and the county escalated into industrial action.
Machakos Deputy Governor Francis Mwangangi said on August 18, 2025, that the county is willing to nip the crisis in the bud and allow residents to access healthcare services.
“We are determined to solve this matter; we move forward. Let us not make it political because those who will be affected are the patients,” he said at the Kithimani Salvation Army church.
“If our healthcare infrastructure is good, we can benefit from clients who are coming from urban centres. Let us negotiate with our doctors to end the strikes.”
The strike came into effect following a nationwide notice issued in May this year in which nurses were pushing for, among other issues, implementation of the collective bargaining agreement, promotions, non-remittance of statutory deductions and non-compliance with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission circular of 2024.