NAIROBI, Kenya – “I don’t know if my office is recognised as one of the offices of CSs in this government or not.”
These were the exact words of Cabinet Secretary for Co-operatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development, Wycliffe Oparanya, when he appeared before the National Assembly Committee on Trade, Industry and Cooperatives to discuss the 2026/2027 budget estimates.
In a rare admission during the Thursday, May 21, 2026, engagement, CS Oparanya laid bare the financial struggles his ministry faced.
The CS lamented that inadequate financial allocations crippled operations in his office. Oparanya openly decried what he has described as severe budgetary constraints affecting the operations of his office, forcing him to depend on his principal secretaries for facilitation during basic duties.
“Every time I go out, I am stuck there because there is no fuel. I have to call my principal secretaries because they are the accounting officers, and they are always signing for themselves. So, I don’t want to continue being a beggar to my juniors,” said Oparanya.
Why Justin Muturi was sacked from the Cabinet
Oparanya’s concerns mirror those of Justin Muturi, who, while serving as a top government official, launched a fierce public critique against the ruling Kenya Kwanza administration.
Muturi accused the government of hypocrisy and specifically condemned its handling of forced disappearances and extrajudicial abductions—an issue that hit home following the brief abduction of his own son.
In late March 2025, President William Ruto officially sacked Muturi as Cabinet Secretary for Public Service in a surprise Cabinet reshuffle.
The head of state and government officials cited Muturi’s frequent boycott of Cabinet meetings and clashes over government policies as reasons for his axing.
He was replaced by Mbeere North MP Geoffrey Kiringa Ruku, who would also break with traditional code by openly calling for constructive and balanced criticism of governance, exposing internal policy friction.
Rigathi Gachagua falls out with the government
This pattern mimics the severe political breakdown between President Ruto and his former deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua.
Gachagua was ousted in October 2024, after long-running public complaints that the administration was systematically isolating and undermining leaders from the Mt. Kenya region.
The government’s decision to bring opposition figures into the Cabinet, including Oparanya, created ideological cracks.
It prompted other current and former ministers—such as Fred Matiang’i—to fiercely blast the state over economic mismanagement, rising insecurity, and the Finance Bill.
While appearing before the Parliamentary Committee, CS Oparanya appealed for at least KSh 200 million to support the running of his office, even as the ministry sought an additional KSh 11 billion to sustain key programmes, including the NYOTA initiative.
President Ruto faces an uphill task in Western Kenya
CS Oparanya’s ministry also raised concern over underfunding that is affecting the NYOTA programme, which it says supports youth employment and job creation.
This comes even as Oparanya recently warned that the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) could lose popularity in the Western Kenya region if embattled secretary general Edwin Sifuna is expelled from the party.
Speaking in Butula Constituency, Busia County, Oparanya, who previously served as the ODM deputy party leader, said attempts to remove Sifuna from his position have weakened the party’s stability at the grassroots level and made it difficult for leaders allied to President Ruto to rally his support, especially in the region.
The Western region has, for a very long time, remained an ODM stronghold, with many leaders elected on the party ticket.
“Those people who are behind the divisions being witnessed in the ODM party are not even from this region. Yet, those who are being expelled from the party are our fellow Luhyas. This makes our work for campaigning for the president very difficult,” Oparanya lamented.
President Ruto’s allies gang up against CS Oparanya
Oparanya pointed out that his work in selling the Kenya Kwanza agenda is being heavily compromised by the removal and disciplinary hearings of Sifuna and other party officials, including Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi, a move that he argues has caused significant friction on the ground.
“Whenever we go to the grassroots to campaign for President Ruto, we are confronted with tough, unanswerable questions from the public regarding why local ODM leaders are being pushed out,” explained the CS.
He has emphasised that simply promoting ODM or President Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party directly in Western Kenya is an uphill task; instead, he insists that leaders must present a unified Western agenda to resonate with local voters.
However, these blunt admissions have triggered mixed reactions within the political landscape. Already, leaders aligned with President Ruto, such as Kakamega Deputy Governor Ayub Savula and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, have told Oparanya to resign if he finds the task of campaigning for the president to be too heavy.
Governor Natembeya weighs in on CS Oparanya’s move
Other leaders in the region, such as Lurambi MP Titus Khamala, have echoed these difficulties. They note that President Ruto’s re-election journey in Western Kenya remains slippery due to a highly unpredictable and demanding voter base.
But Trans Nzoia County Governor George Natembeya, while reacting to Oparanya’s public outburst about the same government that he is serving, termed the move as President Ruto’s script.
Governor Natembeya, who is a harsh critic of President Ruto, claimed that CS Oparanya will leave government, his intention being to scatter Western votes and diminish Sifuna’s popularity in the region and beyond.
“The government is hatching a plot, and I want to tell my brother Oparanya to listen to me because he is part of that scheme. They want to create a conflict and appear as if they have sacked him so that he can go out and seek sympathy from the Western Kenya region. They will argue that he was in ODM, and so he wants to join other ODM rebel leaders to field a single presidential candidate from the region, when actually they aim to divide our votes through him,” warned Governor Natembeya.
CS Wycliffe Oparanya attends the ODM party meeting
On May 11, 2026, ODM Party Leader Dr. Oburu Oginga chaired a meeting that brought together leadership from Kakamega County, led by Oparanya and Governor Fernandes Barasa, who is also the county chairman of the party.
In a statement, the Orange party said the meeting was aimed at solidifying the party in Kakamega County and cementing its base as a stronghold of the Orange party.
Party Members of Parliament from the county attended the meeting in which they were told to work together, pull together and hold periodic meetings that will strengthen the party.
Regarding the Linda Mwananchi and Linda Ground factions, Oparanya maintains that he belongs to one ODM. “I don’t know which faction has what. All these are different factions, and so you can’t say to which one you belong,” he explained.
Ruto’s Cabinet Secretaries condemn internal dissent
Other Cabinet members have, in the recent past, strongly pushed back against this culture of internal dissent. For instance, Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi publicly declared that it defies logic for a member of the executive to oversight or criticise themselves while serving the state.
While defending the government’s economic policy, National Treasury CS John Mbadi actively countered ‘Linda Mwananchi’, the rebelling ODM political faction, challenging them to identify specific flaws in state bills rather than relying on blanket condemnation.
Meanwhile, CS Oparanya has insisted that at the moment he is executing his mandate of serving Kenyans in his capacity as the Cabinet Secretary for Co-operatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) development.
“I will make my position known when the right time comes. I have been given a heavy responsibility which is too much for me. So, should I engage in unnecessary talks at the moment, it will mean that my job will suffer,” the CS explained.
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