Comedian and entrepreneur Sammy Kioko, best known as the winner of Ultimate Comic KE Season 1, has publicly clashed with Machakos County officials over an unpaid KSh 19 million debt for uniforms supplied during the 2023/2024 financial year.
Kioko, who runs a fashion and design business, secretly recorded a tense exchange with Machakos County Finance CEC Catherine Mutanu while demanding payment for the uniforms. In the video, which has since gone viral, Kioko accuses the county of frustrating his efforts to recover the money, claiming the delayed payment has crippled his business operations.
According to Machakos County, the tender in question was awarded to a registered company that does not list Kioko as a director. County officials maintain that the deliveries were initially incomplete and that payment processing is ongoing. They have dismissed Kioko’s protests as politically motivated and misleading.
Kioko, however, insists that he personally oversaw the supply of the uniforms and that the county’s bureaucracy has left him financially stranded. He has staged protests outside the county headquarters and appealed directly to President William Ruto to intervene, citing the plight of small business owners owed millions by county governments.
The standoff has reignited debate over delayed payments to suppliers across Kenya’s devolved units, with many entrepreneurs complaining that pending bills have forced them to shut down or lay off workers. Kioko’s case has drawn widespread attention online, symbolizing the growing frustration among youth-led enterprises struggling to survive amid government payment delays.
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