Cheruiyot: Why Bipartisan Committee Should Have Called For Margaret Nyakang’o’s Resignation

Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot now says the National Dialogue Committee should have asked Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o to resign after she alleged that salaries of senior government officials are over budgeted.

Speaking on Monday, November 6, Cheruiyot pointed out that it is the role of the Controller of Budget to approve withdrawals from the public kitty including salaries of government officials.

The Kericho Senator went on to claim Nyakang’o might be among officials stealing from Kenyans if she allows illegal withdrawals.

“Here you have the person that the constitution has given the responsibility of ensuring that any withdrawal from the public kitty is her mandate then she comes before the committee and tells us I have seen this being budgeted elsewhere and I don’t know how money is being lost, surely with that congestion,” said Cheruiyot.

He added, "I thought probably we should have asked her to resign because if you are allowing withdrawals through what is being revealed to the committee as budgeted corruption then it means either, you are incompetent or you are part and parcel of those that are stealing from us.”

Nyakang’o while appearing before the dialogue committee last week disclosed that the National Treasury over-budgeted her salary by three times, and by extension salaries of other State officers, may cost the country over Ksh.1 billion taxpayer’s money.

"When I was doing the budget for consolidated funds services, this is where my salary is paid from, I found out that my salary was budgeted at three times what I'm paid. I am the only state officer in my institution so there is nothing like confusion there,” she stated.

Nyakang’o went on to say she did not get an answer from the Treasury when she asked why her salary had been tripled.