Waiguru demands apology, resignation of IFMIS Director over county budget errors

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has demanded an apology from the National Treasury following allegations that eight counties including her administration allocated funds to “State House affairs” in the 2017-2018 financial year.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Governor Waiguru termed the claims as “untrue, unfounded, and intended to grossly mislead the public for malicious purposes.”

“Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of accounting would know that there cannot be a budget line for the said State House Affairs in the budget execution report at County Level,” said Waiguru.

A scrutiny of financial statements for Kitui, Kakamega, Garissa, Kirinyaga, Kwale, Lamu, Nyamira and Samburu indicated that the eight counties, just like Kiambu, had allocated funds to functions of the national government including State House functions, foreign advisory services among others.

On Monday, however, the National Treasury sent a memo to counties informing them that they were using the wrong formats to record their financial statements, hence, the outrageous descriptions of their programs.

Waiguru now says since the exchequer has admitted that the bizarre budget lines were as a result of misreporting on IFMIS, someone should take responsibility since the affected counties were exposed to public ridicule.

“By failing to take responsibility for this anomaly in the IFMIS and the consequent public misinformation, the need for public correction and clarification on the same, the National Treasury and Director IFMIS exposed County Executives and County Governments to loss of public trust, humiliation and gross embarrassment,” said Waiguru.

“As Governor of one of the Counties affected, I demand an immediate public apology by the National Treasury, the resignation of the Director IFMIS and the issuance of a public statement to correct public understanding on this matter.”