NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 13 – Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has revealed how President William Ruto funded operations of the Office of the Deputy President with personal finances for four years due to strained relations with his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta.
Speaking on Sunday during a TV interview, the Gachagua said the retired President’s staff had at the time cut off funding to the ODP to frustrate Ruto.
“Rigathi Gachagua has never requested for money to his office. Ukur Yatani former CS and Kinuthia Mbugua (former State House Controller) cut all funds to Ruto’s office. For four years he fueled GK cars, paid electricity bills, and allowances to staff accompanying him,” he said.
“When he went into office these two officers sought to undo the damage. That is what they were trying to reinstate. A certain media house was helping Yatani in diverting the attention of Kenyans from real issues.”
He further stated that former Treasury CS Ukur Yatani and former State House Comptroller Kinuthia Mbugua were trying to clean the damage they had done to the office.
DP held that Mbugua made the request on behalf of the Office of the Deputy President in a bid to save face after President William Ruto won the election.
He claimed that Mbugua acted with former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani who made public the request.
“Previously, the budget of the office of the deputy president was Sh4bn. They went ahead and cut Sh1.4bn. That is what they were trying to reinstate. The deputy president had nothing to do with it, that is their work,” he said.
“When Ruto became president, the two were embarrassed and sought to undo the damage of what they had done.”
Gachagua was responding to reports made by the former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani that he was asked to release funds under special circumstances without parliament approval to the DP’s office.
Yatani on 9th Thursday, exposed details of how Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua requested him to invoke Article 223 to request a disbursement Sh1.59 billion for his office use.
“It included Sh300 million for cars and Sh300 million for hospitality, a request that I did not grant in full but considered an amount of Sh500 million due to the financial constraints we had at the time,” Yatani said.
“This information like all others is in the public domain and I have nothing to hide because of the nature of operations at the national Treasury.
