The simmering political feud between Mumias East MP Peter Salasya and Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro has erupted into a full-blown war of words, with Salasya accusing the powerful Budget Committee chairperson of peddling "academic populism." In a scathing video statement released this morning, Salasya dismissed Nyoro’s proposal for fully free secondary education as a deceptive mirage designed to hoodwink the electorate.

This clash highlights a deepening ideological rift within the youthful faction of the political class. While Nyoro has been traversing the country marketing the "Free Secondary Education" agenda as the Kenya Kwanza administration's next big deliverable, Salasya contends that the proposal is mathematically impossible and practically unsound. "Unajifanya umesoma sana (You pretend to be very learned)," Salasya quipped, questioning why Nyoro, who holds the national purse strings, is making promises that the Treasury cannot cash.

"Where is the Money, Ndindi?"

Salasya’s critique centers on the funding model proposed by Nyoro, which relies on a cocktail of Constituency Development Funds (CDF), county government allocations, and Treasury top-ups. The Mumias East lawmaker argues that this approach betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how government finance works.

"You are the Chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee," Salasya fired back in the video, which has since gone viral on TikTok and X (formerly Twitter). "If this money existed, why didn't you factor it into the 2025/2026 budget? You cannot strip counties of their devolved functions to fund a national government mandate. That is not economics; that is conmanship."

• The CDF Dilemma: Salasya pointed out that CDF is already overstretched with bursaries, security projects, and school infrastructure. Diverting it entirely to tuition would halt all development in constituencies.
• The County Question: The MP questioned the legality of forcing county governments to fund secondary education, which is a function of the national government under the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution.
• The Timing Suspicions: Salasya insinuated that Nyoro’s sudden push for free education is a strategy to build a presidential profile for 2032, rather than a genuine policy shift for 2026.

A History of Bad Blood

This is not the first time the two lawmakers have clashed. Salasya has previously castigated Nyoro for his silence during the debate on the sale of Safaricom shares, terming him a "system apologist." The Mumias East MP demanded that Nyoro produce a white paper detailing exactly where the estimated KSh 120 billion needed for free secondary education would come from without raising taxes.

"Kenyans are tired of theories," Salasya concluded, waving a copy of the Budget Policy Statement. "We want school fees reduced now, not fairytales about a utopia that will never arrive. If you want to help parents, increase the capitation per student from KSh 22,244 to KSh 35,000 immediately. Anything else is just hot air."