Treasury CS John Mbadi Rules Out Homa Bay Governor Bid, Confirms Focus on National Role

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has announced that he will not be contesting any elective position in the 2027 General Elections, including the Homa Bay gubernatorial seat that some reports had linked him to.

Speaking during the Privatisation and People's Budget Dialogue on Friday January 16, Mbadi dismissed claims that his origins outside Homa Bay would bar him from politics there, emphasising that his focus remains on serving the nation in his current Treasury role.

"I was originally born and raised in Migori. However, that should not make them tell me that I should not vie for the Homa Bay County gubernatorial race. Even so, I want to clarify that I am not interested in becoming Homa Bay County Governor," Mbadi stated.

The Homa Bay County seat is one of the positions that are expected to attract a lot of political interest, with the incumbent Gladys Wanga looking forward to retaining the mantle at the helm of the devolved unit.

At the same time, the battle for the Homa Bay gubernatorial seat has intensified further after Deputy Governor Oyugi Magwanga referred to his boss,Governor Wanga, as a 'one-term governor' and vowed to oppose her reelection bid.

Magwanga faulted Wanga’s leadership, saying her administration had mismanaged the county and was struggling to pay contractors or meet basic operational needs in county offices.

“Wanga is a one-term governor, and her time is up. I sacrificed for you to be the governor, but you are very ungrateful. Now it is time for payback,” he declared.

Magwanga further alleged that Wanga relied on the intervention of Mama Ngina Kenyatta, then-President Uhuru Kenyatta, Charity Ngilu, Martha Karua, Fred Matiang’i, and Francis Atwoli, among others, who pressured Raila Odinga to endorse her candidacy.

He claimed Ngilu and Karua framed Wanga’s candidature as a gender issue, compelling Raila to force other aspirants to step down in her favour.

Meanwhile,Mbadi has also refuted claims that the governmentintends to cut the budgetary allocation to the education sector in the financial year 2026/2027 and maintained that the sector will even see more allocation to support higher education funding and university scholarships.

"We have proposed an increase of about Ksh150 billion to the education sector. However is claiming that we are defunding education is being economical with the truth," Mbadi added.

The CS appealed to the public to go through the draft 2026 budget policy statement and submit views to the Treasury to avoid a repeat of last-minute accusations of budget alterations that have been witnessed in the past.