Governor Charity Ngilu hosted ward reps at the weekend in the latest attempt to end a vicious supremacy battle that has threatened to derail county business.
Governor Ngilu met the ward reps at a hotel in the neighbouring Machakos County after several months of acrimony.
Ngilu and the county assembly have recently clashed on budgetary allocations.
The battle springs from mistrust and differences on resource allocation and general management of public affairs in the county, pitting Ngilu against the majority Wiper Party and allied ward reps.
Their differences escalated after two bonding meetings failed to take place in Mombasa last year.
But the straw that broke the camel’s back was when Wiper Party ward reps rejected Ngilu’s Sh11 billion supplementary budget and impeached her Finance Executive Mary Nguli in December last year.
Middle ground
Before the impeachment, the ward reps led by Majority Leader Peter Kilonzo had warned that the county government could be headed for a political tempest unless a middle ground was reached between the executive and ward reps.
Last Friday, Ngilu held a meeting with the ward reps led by Speaker George Ndotto, Deputy Governor Wathe Nzau, county secretary Alex Kimanzi and a host of executive members where a raft of contentious issues were discussed.
Although there was no official statement issued after the meeting, an insider confided to The Standard that it had been fruitful and that further meetings would be held to iron out more outstanding issues.
“The meeting was not narrowed to a bonding session. It was about engaging on important matters facing the county. A government is about inclusivity of both assembly and the executive,” said Kilonzo.
