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Former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru on Thursday appeared before the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and told MPs that she never met NYS suspect Josephine Kabura, Ben Gethi was facing multiple criminal charges before court, former NYS Director General Nelson Githinji was the Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) holder when the money was stolen and that former PS Peter Mangiti should carry his own cross.
Before giving her testimony, Waiguru asked for assurance from the committee that the process would be guided by the law; that the MPs will seek the truth and not do a witch-hunt.
The former CS maintained that she had never met Kabura and branded her a liar and a puppet working for cartels who were the real masterminds of the loss of the Sh791 million at the NYS.
False affidavit
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She indicated that the allegations raised in Kabura’s affidavit were false and had been proven so by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
She went further to say that Kabura did not personally write the affidavit and was working for someone else.
She termed the timing of the release of the affidavit suspicious since it was done exactly a week after her clearance done by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
She said the affidavit release was strategic for fear that she might be re-instated back to the cabinet.
AIE holders
Waiguru insisted that former NYS director general Githinji was the AIE holder during the time period the money was lost and not Adan Harakhe the way it was shared in the public domain.
“There has been confusion for the last one and a half years in the media that the loss of Sh791 million happened when Harakhe was the AIE holder. I seek to clarify that the funds were stolen when the DG Githinji was the AIE holder,” she said.
She wondered why the committee insisted to link her with Ben Gethi when he appeared before them yet he had publicly stated at the Jeff Koinange Live show aired on KTN that he never knew her.
Waiguru portrayed Gethi as a person with questionable repute as he was currently facing multiple criminal charges that involved money laundering in court.
She maintained that Gethi was linked with the cartels who were behind her woes that led to her subsequent dropping from the cabinet.
Waiguru refuted claims that she micro-managed former PS Mangiti and was responsible for procurement processes and said he should carry his own cross
“According to Public Finance Management Act, it is the Principal Secretary and not the Cabinet Secretary who is the accounting officer in government ministries,” she maintained.