Governor Waititu in trouble over Sh2 billion audit query

Kiambu leaders and residents have demanded answers following revelations that the county government spent Sh 2.1 billion on national government functions.

This emerged on Thursday even as Governor Ferdinand Waititu disowned the details.

Mr Waititu appeared before the Senate County Public Accounts and Investments Committee to answer audit queries. The committee is chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang, whose deputy is his Kiambu counterpart Kimani Wamatangi.

Senator Wamatangi termed the revelation as bad news to people of Kiambu and called for probe to ascertain how the allocations ended up in the county.

“The inclusion of those vote heads in the report can only be termed as a conduit and plunder of public resources,” said Mr Wamatangi.

Thika MP Patrick Wainaina challenged senators to rise to the occasion and ensure counties are not milked dry by their respective administrations.

“Senators must take up the important task to audit the governors. The season of handcuffs must officially begin,” said Mr Wainaina.

Nominated Senator Isaac Mwaura wondered how the county could allocate huge amount of money for national government functions.

“Waititu gave flimsy answers about copies of national government template. That was such a big shame. The governor is a big letdown to the people of Kiambu,” said Mwaura.

Kiambu Town MP Jude Njomo said leaders will no longer sit down and watch as the county is mismanaged.

He said if loopholes are not sealed to secure public resources the county may end up being the laughing stock in the region.

“It seems Kiambu jumped from the frying pan to the fire. We had a lot of hope but now it is gone. As leaders we will no longer keep quiet about what is happening. We are not going to allow such things to continue happening,” he said.

It emerged that the county had allocated Sh973.9 million for State House functions but spent Sh902 million.

However, in a swift rejoinder President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita in a tweet distanced State House from the claims.

“Just for the record, State House does not share any budgets with the County Government of Kiambu,” he said.

According to the document, the county also spent Sh793 million on Free Primary Education, which is a national government function under a county vote head which had been allocated Sh804 million.

The Governor has however disowned the audit detailed in the two pages showing the dubious allocations.

“The way these allocations found their way into the documents is still a mystery to us. The allocations are not from us since all those vote heads are for national government functions. The budget in question was prepared by the previous administration,” Waititu said.

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