Kirinyaga presidential campaign funds can be accounted for, Committee says

The Kirinyaga Presidential Campaign Committee has stated that every shilling that was contributed to fund President Uhuru Kenyatta’s campaign can be accounted for.

In a statement to media houses on Monday, the committee trashed reports that money raised to fund President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election campaign had been misappropriated saying those peddling such claims are merely being malicious.

“Our attention has been drawn to a story appearing on local news sites with malicious claims over the expenditure of the money raised for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election campaign,” read the statement in part.

“The articles are fictitious and portray a choreographed scheme by a section of local leaders hell-bent on tainting the reputation of Kirinyaga Governor H.E. Anne Waiguru and sabotaging her administration.”

The committee further noted that the amount being quoted by media as having been collected in the fundraiser was fictitious.

They said that though pledges made at the fundraiser amounted to Sh32 million, only a total of Sh16,740,000 was collected by both local leaders and Kirinyaga professionals.

“Firstly, the amount quoted in the media is FALSE; whereas the pledges amounted to Sh32 million, only 12,240,000 was contributed in cash to the campaign account at Cooperative Bank with an additional 4,500,000 being given by Kirinyaga professionals from their separate account.”

They further noted that neither Governor Waiguru nor her deputy Peter Ndambiri were signatories to the campaign account, saying the two leaders had no hand in how the money was spent.

“The signatories to the account were Mwea MP Wachira Kabinga, County Assembly Majority leader James Murango, MCA Wanjiru Njeru and Mr Alister Murimi, represented various stakeholders who contributed to the campaign. These are the people who sanctioned the campaign expenditures.”

The committee said the differences between the amount pledged and that which was collected was due to a decision by some leaders to directly fund campaign activities instead of channelling the amount to the committee account.

“It is imperative to note that contributors were either giving cash to the campaign kitty or directly funding campaign activities to the sum of the amount pledged,” they stated.

“Among those who opted to directly fund campaign activities instead of giving in cash are Women Representative Purity Ngirici who pledged Sh1,000,000 which WAS NOT received in cash but directly administered to the campaign.

“Others are Mwea MP Wachira Kabinga who pledged Sh500,000 but only gave Sh300,000 in cash. Kirinyaga Central MP Munene Wambugu who pledged Sh1 million but only gave Sh200,000 in cash and Ndia MP George Kariuki who pledged Sh500,000 but did not give any cash to the campaign kitty.

“It is important to note that Members of the County Assembly pledged Ksh4.2 million but only gave Sh1.8 million to the campaign kitty.”

They further stated that Members of Parliament chose party agents who were paid directly by Jubilee Party via M-Pesa, clarifying that this money was not channelled to the campaign account.

The committee members expressed their displeasure with reports of misappropriation saying they were non-factual and baseless.

“It is therefore indecorous for some leaders to resort to propaganda with the aim of sabotaging Governor Waiguru’s administration.

The on-going smear campaign is a calculated move by some leaders affiliated to cartels that have held the people of Kirinyaga hostage for years.”

They said that the current propaganda being perpetuated by some leaders would not prevent the governor from providing services to the people of Kirinyaga.

“The Governor’s resolve to crack down on cartels and ensure services are delivered to the people is evidently making her a target.

“We will not let the falsehood being peddled by enemies of development to enfeeble the Governor’s commitment to lead Kirinyaga to a prosperous future.”