File image of DP Gachagua
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has distanced himself from claims that he made a 1.5 billion request for his office.
Speaking on Sunday March 12 during a roundtable interview with journalists, Gachagua revealed that it was former State House Comptroller Kinuthia Mbugua who made the request in a bid to save face after President William Ruto won the 2022 general election.
“Former Cabinet Secretary Yatani and Mbugua had cut off funds to the Office of the Deputy President for four years under the instructions of Uhuru Kenyatta.
“When Ruto became president, the two were embarrassed and sought to undo the damage of what they had done,” said Gachagua.
The Second in Command explained that the funds were slashed from the office following the fallout between Ruto and Uhuru in the previous regimes.
“The previous year, they cut the budget from Ksh4 billion shillings and they cut it by Ksh1.5 billion which they tried to reinstate,” the DP explained.
Yattani on Wednesday last week claimed that DP Gachagua wrote to him requesting 1.5 billion for his office to cater for cars, and hospitality among other things.
“Just to mention, immediately after the 2022 election, a request on behalf of the current DP was presented to my office under the same article for approval and disbursement of Ksh1.59 billion for his office use.
“It included Ksh300 million for cars and Ksh330 million for hospitality and a request that I did not grant in full but considered an amount of Ksh500 million due to the financial constraints we had at that time,” said Yattani.
This was after the Controller of the Budget Margaret Nyakang’o exposed how Yattani pressured him to release 15 billion days before the previous regime left office.
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