Waiguru told the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee that there was no conspiracy at the Ministry involving Adan Harakhe who was made AIE holder after the money was lost/MOSES MUOKI
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 3 – Former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru has laid the blame for the Sh791 million National Youth Service saga on former Director General Nelson Githinji saying he was the one who held the Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) at the time of the loss.
Waiguru told the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee that there was no conspiracy at the Ministry involving Adan Harakhe who was made AIE holder after the money was lost.
“There has been confusion for the last one and a half years in the media that the loss of Sh791 million happened when Harakhe was the AIE holder. I seek to clarify that the funds were stolen when the Director General was the AIE holder,” she said.
She also refuted claims by former Principal Secretary Peter Mangiti that she was responsible for procurement processes.
“Engineer Mangiti claimed that I micro-managed him and this was what I was seeing yesterday and blamed me for the loss. I have also enclosed instructions by myself to the PS in writing, and enclosed a sample of correspondences. Mangiti as the former Principal Secretary was the accounting officer of the Ministry according to the Public Finance Management Act,” she stated.
Earlier, Waiguru had sought assurance from the committee that it will be guided by the law and not witch-hunt.
“Honourable Chairman, I wish to seek your assurance from the onset that this committee is guided by nothing other than its mandate to seek to establish the truth in this matter as its constitutional obligation,” she said.
The Former Devolution CS went on to disown one of the suspects in the suspected scam, Josephine Kabura; branding her a liar.
Waiguru maintained that she has never met Kabura personally and indicated that the allegations raised in her affidavit were false and had been proven so. “Honourable Chair I will put it on record that I have never seen Kabura live myself, so if she claimed that we were friends, that is her claim.”
She further distanced herself from Ben Gethi and insisted that former Director General Nelson Githinji were responsible for loss of the funds.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) which investigated the suspected fraud said it did not find evidence linking Waiguru to the scandal.
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