Former President Uhuru Kenyatta during Madaraka Day celebrations in Nairobi on June 1, 2022. PHOTO | SILA KIPLAGAT | NMG
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta gave a 26-minute ultimatum for
the Controller of Budget to release Sh10 billion without MPs approval, just four days before the last General Election.The revelations are contained in a tense WhatsApp conversation between the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o and former Treasury Cabinet secretary Ukur Yatani that was tabled on Monday in Parliament.
Mr Yatani sent a WhatsApp message to Dr Nyakang’o threatening that the former head of State would personally call the Controller of Budget if the billions were not released by close of business on August 4, 2022.
The conversation — which occurred on August 4, 2022 at 3.34pm — shows a panicked Mr Yatani asking Dr Nyakang’o to facilitate approvals for infrastructure ministry amounting to Sh8 billion and Sh2 billion failure to which Mr Kenyatta himself would intervene.
The expenditure has brewed a storm in Parliament with a House committee asking MPs not to approve the payments.
The Controller of Budget must approve withdrawal of cash from the government’s main accounts and has powers to block access of funds suspected to breach the law.
Read: Ruto allocates Uhuru hefty Sh678.5m retirement perks
Article 223 of the Constitution allows the Treasury to spend on emergencies without the approval of the Parliament.
The law demands that the Treasury table a mini-budget two months after withdrawing funds from the Consolidated Fund without the approval of MPs.
“He’s just called and I assured him that I have spoken to you and you promised before the end of the day. HE (Mr Kenyatta) might even call you if we don’t deal with this by 4pm,” Mr Yatani told Dr Nyakang’o between 3.33pm and 3.34pm.
A panicked Dr Nyakang’o responded: “Are you saying we have 26 minutes to complete the process? The timing requires up to tomorrow as I am still out of office.”
Mr Yatani refused to let it go. “You need to devise how to deal with it. I am sorry,” said the former Treasury CS.
On August 5, the Controller of Budget approved a series of payments, including three tranches of payments worth Sh9.95 billion to the State Department for Infrastructure and a Sh6.01 billion deal that saw the Treasury acquire a 60 percent stake in Telkom Kenya from a UK-based private equity fund, Helios Investment Partners.
Dr Nyakang’o has since raised questions on whether the Treasury used the funds for the projects it had disclosed.
“There is the Sh9.95 billion that there are questions as to whether the money was spent on the projects that were mentioned in the respective requisitions,” Dr Nyakang’o told the Business Daily on Tuesday.
The Sh9.95 billion included Sh4.8 billion for the 31-kilometre North Eastern bypass and Sh2.8 billion for the Lamu-Ijara and Garissa road whose construction tender was controversially awarded to China Communications Construction Company Limited in 2021.
Dr Nyakang’o also approved Sh1.85 billion for the construction of the Makupa Causeway, a special bridge meant to connect Mombasa island to the coastal mainland and a further Sh500 million to fund the rehabilitation of Nzoia Sugar factories.
This brought the total amount that was controversially spent four days to the election at Sh16.04 billion.
The expenditures were closed in the last days of Mr Kenyatta’s presidency and came at the height of campaigns to succeed him by then Deputy President William Ruto and the opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Dr Ruto won the August 9 presidential election race by a narrow margin of votes.
Dr Nyakang’o says the Treasury’s increased triggers of Article 223 undermines the legal requirement for public participation in the budget-making process.
Read: Treasury spent Sh23bn without MPs nod in Uhuru's last days
“This Article of the Constitution is a bit vague and accounting officers are taking advantage to seek funds through Article 223, which should not be the case. The money withdrawn under Article 223 is not revenue from KRA but proceeds of borrowings including bonds which is compounding public debt,” said Dr Nyakang’o.
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