The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) secretary general Cleophas Malala has defended Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over the Ksh1.5 billion request made to former Treasury CS Ukur Yattani days after he assumed office.
Speaking on Thursday March 9 at Citizen TV’s daily break morning show, Malala argued that the money was meant for the office of the Deputy President which was underfunded in the previous regime.
“The reason why Ksh1.5 billion was requested was that Uhuru had taken all budget elements from the Office of the DP and that office had no money.
“Ksh1.5 billion is too little to run that office because it has so many matters that need to be financed. This money was well appropriated,” Malala explained.
The former Kakamega Senator accused Yattani of trying to divert the attention from the revelations made by the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o.
“The former head of state was giving instructions through a WhatsApp chat which is the highest level of misappropriation of public funds and we must therefore question where the money was heading to,” Malala claimed.
Yattani on Wednesday claimed that DP Gachagua wrote to him requesting 1.5 billion for his office.
“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.
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