Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru faced members of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) following mounting concerns over financial impropriety in her docket and explained she was not to blame.
Ms Waiguru blamed everyone else and insisted that what was happening in her docket – the misappropriation of public funds and corruption – was not “unique” because even Chief Justice Willy Mutunga had complained of corruption in the Judiciary, while National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale had asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to declare corruption a national disaster.
Waiguru said the harsh spotlight on her ministry that had brought to light cases of misuse of public funds was because the ministry was transparent and had opened up to public scrutiny, instead of opting the convenient path to hide the skeletons.
The CS said on financial matters in her ministry, the buck stopped with her two principal secretaries Peter Mangiti (Planning) and Mwanamaka Mabruki (Devolution), and if the issues had to be escalated, then it would be up to National Treasury CS Henry Rotich, because he was the one who appoints the accounting officers in all Government departments, not her.
“First of all, I have not seen the documents, whatever documents that are being discussed here... I wouldn’t even see that document, and even if I saw it, as a minister, I would not be in a position to interrogate that document, because as you can see it is a bulky document. It is not in my role. Because that role is given to the accounting officer,” said Waiguru.
Her view was that if the PSs had a problem with corrupt dealings, they have to inform the CS “in writing” so that the matter is reported to investigating authorities and that is what she did with the Sh791 million that was stolen from the National Youth Service in dubious payments for irregular procurement.
INFLATED COSTS
Waiguru looked at the MPs of the watchdog committee, auditors from the Auditor General’s office who pointed out the misuse of public funds, and dozens of journalists in the room, and denied she was privy to the ongoings about the wasteful spending where goods and services were procured at inflated costs, including pens bought at Sh8,700.
“The minister is not involved at all, at all, even for the things in my office. I am not involved in the procurement of those things. At all! Even the chair in my office, I cannot tell you how much it cost. I cannot tell you how much this pen cost; it is not possible for me to do that. Because then, I will be spending my time doing the functions of somebody else considering how many things a ministry buys. So there’s the accounting officer who is responsible, there are teams below them that are given the responsibility to carry out that mandate,” she said.
In a packed three-hour meeting held inside the stuffy Committee Room 9 at the Main Parliament buildings on a hot Wednesday afternoon, Waiguru said she was “immensely” concerned about the overpriced purchases and seemingly unnecessary goods.
At one point the Cabinet secretary blamed her “enthusiasm” at “being transparent” as having exposed her ministry.
“Perhaps our transparency is our undoing. Maybe we should have kept quiet (when these things happen). You wouldn’t have known!” said Waiguru.
The meeting which began with MPs telling Waiguru that she was free to “walk away” if she was not adequately prepared, because the House rules require that she be given a seven-day notice, and a near-argument among MPs over why they appeared to defend the CS when she was right there, ended with a confession that the Sh1.8 million touch-screen was actually bought, but it is in the ministry’s boardroom.
INACCURATE DOCUMENT
“I do not have a piano, and neither do I have a screen, condom dispensers and whatever else. A lot of that information was very inaccurate,” said Waiguru, as she disowned the document and boxed in her PSs to apologise to the MPs for submitting an inaccurate document.
Public Accounts Committee Chairman Nicholas Gumbo led his charges, plus five other MPs who are not members of the committee among them Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills) who is pursuing the impeachment of Waiguru in the grilling question. They questioned how the CS could not question goods in her office.
CS Waiguru: If those things were bought for my office, I had absolutely no role. I don’t do the requisitions, I don’t get involved in the pricing, I don’t even know who tenders, I don’t appoint the committees, I don’t choose...
Gumbo: Sorry, is that how it works? If you get a bench in your office you will just sit on it?
CS Waiguru: Yes! Honourable chair Yes. Just like, if you will allow me, just like you walked into this room, you did not ask the price of the chair you are sitting on. Neither did we! We just enter the office and we are given furniture and we sit on the furniture. If someone walks to me and tells me by the way CS, that chair you are sitting on cost Sh80,000. I will say, ‘What? Are you sure?” And I will make sure I ask the accounting officer, to explain to me if it is true. Unless that issue is raised, it is not possible to know for me to go through every purchase, especially if you realise I have a budget of Sh100 billion.
The MPs were so astounded that they sought to know what her job as a Cabinet secretary was, now that she blamed her principal secretaries and individual officers for the finances. Towards the tail end of the meeting, the CS admitted that there was a screen for presentations.
PS Mangiti: We indeed have the PC-cum-TV display system. It is an integrated system that is housed in the ministry’s boardroom in Harambee House
Gumbo: Hold on! Has the minister ever gone to that boardroom?
PS Mangiti: Let me just make a clarification.
Gumbo: No! No! No! The CS said she has never seen it. It is on record. Has she ever gone to the boardroom?
CS Waiguru: I said I do not have a TV screen. The impression that Kenyans have out there is that there’s a TV that shows KTN, NTV...
Gumbo: Please, Madam CS... what was so difficult for you to tell us that it is not in my office but in the boardroom.
CS Waiguru: Because it is not a TV screen. It is not a TV for watching TV.
Waiguru said she does not deal with the details, but with the overall strategy, policy and leadership of the ministry. The details, she said, is the job of the principal secretaries.
