National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u has downplayed claims made by Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o on how the National Treasury allegedly over-budgeted her salary by three times and by extension salaries of other State officers.
Speaking before the National Dialogue Committee, Prof. Ndung’u said he has already forwarded the matter to the Auditor General to establish 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.
The Controller of Budget accused the Treasury of budgeted corruption by over-budgeting salaries of senior government officials through the Consolidated Fund Services.
He added: “We don’t want to have that kind of connotation that we have institutionalised corruption. This is actually theft of public funds if it was actually taking place. We disburse money on the basis of budget.”
Ndungu has instead said the Treasury is earmarking at agencies and parastatals where they can invoke budget cuts
In her submission before the national dialogue committee Nyakang’o said she was privy to the budget anomaly because it affected her personally and that most of the affected senior government officials are not aware of the discrepancies.
She further called for an immediate audit on the issue to seal the loophole of what she terms as budgeted corruption.