Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru spent eight hours at the Ethics and Anti-Corruuption Commission (EACC) offices on Wednesday being grilled over Ksh10.63 million imprest that was allegedly misappropriated.
The allegations were first floated by Kirinyaga MCAs, who accused her of awarding herself the money as travel allowances for foreign trips she never made.
The governor was also accused of steering corruption in the county through tenders, though she said she was only grilled on matters imprests.
“I was called here on the issue of imprests. I am happy the truth is finally going to come out. You can make all manner of allegations but you must provide the evidence,” said Waiguru.
Acquitting the governor in June, the Senate Select Committee that was investigating impeachment motion against her found that there was gross mismanagement of tenders in the county.
Read: Is Overly Mentioned Pauline Kamau In Waiguru Impeachment Hearing The New “Kabura”?
In their report tabled in Senate last month, the committee however said that it could not link the governor to the mismanagement of the tenders.
Instead, the committee recommended that the officers who constituted the committees that mismanaged the tender step aside and the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and EACC investigates the matter.
There were two overly mentioned officers in the graft allegations who include the governor’s former PA Ms Pauline Kamau and Mr Gichira Wayne.
“The Committee notes that in the documents filed and during the hearing, the County Assembly did not draw a nexus between the Governor and the appointment of either Ms Pauline Kamau or Mr Gichira Wayne to a tender committee. Indeed, Mr Carilus Otieno, as the head of the county procurement unit, confirmed that the Governor had not taken part in the formulation of any tender committee,” the report tabled in Senate noted.
However, the Committee noted that the circumstances under which Pauline Kamau was recruited raised a lot of questions. Ms Pauline Kamau, according to the findings, was not qualified to hold the office of Director of Administration and further that her recruitment was pushed through by the Governor.
Email your news TIPS to Editor@kahawatungu.com or WhatsApp +254707482874. You can also find us on Telegram through www.t.me/kahawatungu
Email your news TIPS to Editor@kahawatungu.com or WhatsApp +254707482874