Treasury Chief Njuguna Ndung’u Denies ‘Budgeted Corruption’ Allegations
Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u, cabinet secretary of the National Treasury, has refuted Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o’s claims that the National Treasury purportedly threefold overbought her salary and, by extension, the salaries of other state officers.
Monday before the National Dialogue Committee, Professor Ndung’u stated that he had previously referred the matter to the Auditor General for verification of the facts.
“If an issue like this is brought to me I take it to the auditor general. I have already pushed this to the auditor general. You cannot make a statement unless you have provided the facts,” said the CS.
He added: “We don’t want to have that kind of connotation that we have institutionalized corruption. This is theft of public funds if it was taking place. We disburse money based on budget.”
On Tuesday of last week, the Controller of Budget testified before the National Dialogue Committee regarding the Treasury’s practice of overbudgeting senior government official compensation via Consolidated Fund Services.
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Initially, the Treasury allocated Ksh.17.82 million for her annual compensation, which caused her office to express concern because the amount was significantly greater than what she was earning annually.
Treasury would only reduce that amount to Ksh.10.15 million, which remained more than her annual salary of Ksh.9.18 million.
The Treasury had allocated Ksh.42.4 million for the salaries and allowances of the President and his deputy. However, the figures reflect their actual gazetted remuneration as Ksh.32.05 million, representing a discrepancy of Ksh.10.35 million.
Nyakang’o asserts that she became cognizant of the anomaly solely through personal experience and that the majority of senior government officials who are impacted are oblivious to the inconsistencies.
She demands an audit be conducted immediately to close the loophole that she refers to as “budgetary corruption.”
Treasury Chief Njuguna Ndung’u Denies ‘Budgeted Corruption’ Allegations