Devolution CS Anne Waiguru fights to clear her name over graft claims
What you need to know:
- Ms Waiguru took to her Twitter and Facebook pages to declare her innocence.
- Ms Waiguru accused her critics of deliberately refusing to appreciate the role of a Cabinet secretary.
Embattled Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru has come out fighting to clear her name of corruption allegations after MPs discovered a litany of inflated expenses in a department under her ministry.
Ms Waiguru took to her Twitter and Facebook pages to declare her innocence, saying she was neither the ministry’s accounting officer nor the Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) holder.
She also maintained that there was no television screen worth Sh.1.798 million as revealed in the documents shown to MPs on Tuesday.
“And for the record I have no such TV screen or piano in my office. God bless Kenya,” she stated in the detailed statement.
Among the items whose costs were outrageously inflated include the supply and installation of a touch screen in Ms Waiguru’s office at a cost of Sh1.798 million and computers, a printer, telephone headsets and a water dispenser at a combined cost of Sh1.4 million.
There was also a case where, in June 2014, the Huduma Kenya Secretariat paid Sh174,000 for 20 blue, fine-tipped ball point pens, meaning each was bought at Sh8,700.
Others included a photocopier at Sh1.4 million; 45 external hard disks at Sh11,102 each; a laptop bought for Sh206,000; 18 tailor-made clear male and female condom dispensers at Sh25,000 each; CorelDraw software for Sh3.4 million; a computer and personal laptop for Sh1.1 million; and carpets at Sh3.8 million.
Ms Waiguru accused her critics of deliberately refusing to appreciate the role of a Cabinet secretary and that of accounting officers and AIE holders in government ministries and departments.
“The last three months have witnessed incessant media attacks on my character on the issue of corruption in the Ministry of Devolution and its agencies including the NYS,” she wrote.
“What is shocking is the deliberate refusal to recognize my role as CS and that of officers who are either accounting officers or AIE holders in Govt Depts. Both by law and in practice, I do not procure. I do not purchase anything for the ministry. I don't sign or negotiate contracts,” she stated.
