• Samboja fell out with MCAs after he failed to assent to the Sh5.6 billion budget for 2019-2020.
• Two weeks ago he embarked on collecting signatures for a petition to dissolve the county.
Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja's petition has no strong basis for dissolving the county government, former Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadeghu has said.
The former legislator said the petition is a waste of time and advised Samboja to instead pursue dialogue with MCAs to resolve their differences.
"This is an exercise in futility. The time government officials are wasting collecting signatures that shall never see the light of day should be used to find other means to end the current stand off," Mwadeghu told journalists in Voi.
He said the assembly and executive are insincere about the budget impasse and should work together for the realization of devolution.
A fortnight ago, Governor Samboja kicked off collection of signatures to support a petition to dissolve the county government.
Samboja fell out with MCAs after he declined to assent to the Sh5.6 billion budget for 2019-2020 financial year.
In the petition, Samboja accuses the assembly of derailing devolution by reducing the money allocated for payment of pending bills, budget allocation for casual employees and allocation for Datu Sawazisha fund.
In dispute is Sh833 million that the MCAs allocated themselves through the Ward Development Fund.
While meeting a team of clerics led by Taita Taveta county ACK Bishop Liverson Mng'onda on Wednesday, Samboja ruled out possibilities of holding dialogue.
He maintained that his move to dissolve the government was unstoppable.
"Let us stop chest thumbing and wait for fresh elections. I am happy that some MCAs have signed the petition and this gives it more weight," Samboja said in his Wundanyi office.
The clerics had sought to broker dialogue between the two arms of the county government.
Samboja revealed that a total of 38,248 voters had signed the petition, surpassing the targeted 18,000 signatures.
He urged more residents to append their signatures, saying he targets to get at least 50,000 signatures.
Samboja said he shall reveal further the road map on July 31 regarding when the petition will be handed to President Uhuru Kenyatta.