Kenyans were left in shock Thursday, after it emerged that Kiambu County government had made some crazy budgetary allocations.
It was something out of a comedy sketch as the Senate County Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC) chairman Moses Kajwang read out the figures which amounted to Sh2.5 billion.
The county had apparently allocated Sh973 million for the coordination of State House functions, Sh58 million on South Sudan peace process, Sh804 million on free primary education, Sh180.5 million for the statutory benefits for retired presidents and Sh591.6 million for State Corporations Advisory Services.
This clearly looked like a national government budget, and Waititu’s immediate answer was that ‘it was also news to him’. Never mind that the report had been duly signed by his government as a true statement of accounts.
“What I have just seen is also new to me. You know we don’t have a budget line for National government functions. No money has been disbursed to that effect,” Waititu told the committee.
State House even later distanced itself from the figures, saying it does not share any budgets with Kiambu county government.
Just for the record . @StateHouseKenya does not share any budgets with the County Government of Kiambu.
— Nzioka Waita, MGH (@NziokaWaita) May 2, 2019
In typical politician style, Waititu further argued that the figures could very well have been sneaked him by his competitors to make him look bad. He appeared to point a finger at Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi.
“I strongly believe we did not spend the monies in those budget lines. I will not bear responsibility as the governor for something I don’t know. What I am seeing here from my senator and the other senator, is what I expected. They are trying to use politics to tarnish the name of my government,” he said.
In a night interview on KTN however, he changed the rhythm and totally disowned the report, pointing an accusing finger at his predecessor William Kabogo.
Waititu stated that the report in question, in fact, points to a budget that was prepared for the 2017/18 financial year.. before he took office.
”This budget is for the year 2017/2018, which was done by the previous government… we were elected in August 2017 and we started using this budget in November 2017. It is actually not us who did this budget,” he told Linda Oguttu. ”It was (done) by the previous government (under) governor Kabogo,” he added.
He also argued that the report could simply be system generated.
https://twitter.com/KTNKenya/status/1124018565613596677
