I Was Pushed to Sign Off on Sh11 Billion Payment Before Elections – Controller of Budget Reveals

Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o claims Treasury pressed for the transfer of Sh11 billion to the Office of the President and Infrastructure Ministry just days before the election.

Nyakang’o submitted documents to the Parliamentary Public Petitions Committee on Tuesday about text messages she claims she had with former Treasury CS Ukur Yatani pushing her to speed up the transaction.

“Please help us expedite this,” a message from Yatani reads.

“His Excellency might even call you if we don’t deal with this by 4 pm,” he added.

“Are you saying we have 26 minutes to complete the process?” Nyakang’o replied.

“He just called and I assured him that I have spoken to you and you promised before the end of the day,” responded Yatani.

“I know he will call again. He persuaded some guys to resume work and promised that their bill be settled by today,” he continued.

The documents doing rounds on social media show that the conversation took place on August 4, 2022, between 3.33pm and 3.39pm.

Nyakang’o told the former CS that the request would need time to be processed but Yatani continued to pile pressure.

“You need to devise how to deal with it. I am sorry but try,” he said.

The Treasury official in a previous conversation stated that Sh1 billion of the funds would be sent to the Office of the President for security-related initiatives.

“Please, also facilitate similar approvals for Infrastructure Ministry for amounts Sh8 billion and Sh2 billion,” he said in an April 1, 2022 conversation.

The revelations come days after Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua threatened to lay bare details of how officials in retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government looted over Sh16 billion in his last three months in office.

He claimed that the monies, stashed in cartons, were transported to former PSs and CSs homes aboard Wilson Airport aircraft.