The Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o has revealed that she approved withdrawals of cash amounting to more than Sh15billion under pressure by the previous administration.
She claimed that former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani pushed her to release Sh11billion to the Office of the President and Ministry of Infrastructure days before the election.
Appearing before the National Assembly Public Petitions committee, Nyakang’o said she noticed various irregularities but had to approve because of the pressure.
The committee is probing claims by Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) Secretary General Stephen Mutoro that Sh55billion was spent without parliamentary approval between July and August last year.
The approvals included Sh6billion to cater for the exit of Helios Investment Partners in Telkom Kenya and another Sh9.2billion from the annuity fund to finance some road projects she said did not qualify to benefit from the kitty.
Among the projects were the Lamu-Ijara-Garissa road and the dualing of the Nairobi Eastern Bypass.
“This fund was to cater for select infrastructure projects which were not among those provided by the Treasury Cabinet Secretary,” Nyakang’o said.
Nyakang’o told MPS that she initially refused to approve the withdrawal of Sh6.09billion to buy Helio Investment Partners shares in Telkom Kenya in a deal that made the company fully owned by the government.
She disclosed that Yatani put her under pressure through text messages tabled and read before the committee warning her that the President expected them to close the transaction which prompted her to make the approval.
“I sought to see the resolution that approved this but it was not available. What I was given was the contract between Helios and the Cabinet Secretary,” she said.
In the printout of the conversation presented to parliament, it was evident that Yatani directed her to authorise various payments without delay as they were due and needed to be released urgently.
“Evening Controller. We are intending to do Supplementary 2 at least at the end of April. You need to approve this for us immediately. These projects are security related and contractors are abandoning the site due to non-payment. There’s extreme urgency,” Yatani wrote in one of the messages presented to parliament.
On August 4, 2022, Yatani wrote an email to Nyakang’o at 2:13pm which read “Good Afternoon, please also facilitate similar approvals for Infrastructure Ministry for amounts of Sh8billion and Sh2billion.”
He subsequently wrote another after that saying, “H.E might even call you if we don’t deal with this by 4pm.
Nyakang’o replied: “Are you saying we have 26 minutes to complete the process? The timing requires up to tomorrow as I am still out of office.”
And in a message said to have been sent at 3:39pm, CS Yatani reportedly told the Budget Controller: “You need to devise how to deal with it. I am sorry but try.”
Yesterday while defending her decision to make the approvals, Nyakang’o told lawmakers that she had thought long and hard before deciding to go public with the revelations.
“I have nowhere to go, that is the sad bit. I only report to Parliament. I have no other boss yet at that time, Parliament was already dissolved. Where I should have run to is where the duress was coming from,” she said.
She also revealed that the defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) requisitioned for Sh2.961billion to settle pending bills arising from the previous financial year but upon scrutiny of the invoices provided, only pending bills worth Sh411.9million were paid.
Previously, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua announced that he will name those behind the alleged looting of public coffers, monies in the previous administration which he claimed run into billions of shillings days before the polls.
