The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has arrested the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakango.
Detectives from the DCI are said to have picked Ms Nyakango from Mombasa where she had travelled for an event.
Nyakango’s arrest is in relation to a complaint made against her and ten others, way back in 2016. At the time the complaint was made, Nyakango had not yet become the Controller of Budget.
Nyakango, who took oath of office on 04th December 2019, was due to retire in November 2027. According to Article 251 of the Constitution of Kenya, the Office of the Controller of Budget enjoys security of tenure. The holder of this office is also required to hold office for a non-renewable term of eight years.
In a letter to the DCI dated November 30, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions approved the charges against Nyakango.
Sources speaking to sauce.co.ke said she was at a public event in Mombasa when she was trailed and arrested by the sleuths.
She was later on arraigned in a Mombasa court on charges of operating a Sacco without a license, forgery, and conspiracy to commit fraud.
Ms Nyakango has been vocal about public expenditure ever since she came to office in June 2020.
She recently warned that the Ruto government may soon be unable to render crucial services due to the weakening shilling against the dollar. This has subsequently led to a sharp increase in public debt.
“The continuous depreciation of the Kenya shilling will necessitate an increase in the amount required for loan repayments. This will erode the government’s fiscal space. It will also limit the implementation of other critical government policies and programs, resulting in budget adjustments,” Nyakang’o said at the time.
Nyakango was also in the spotlight a few months ago after her explosive revelation during the National Dialogue Committee where she revealed that someone at the National Treasury had been inflating her salary by three times the amount without her consent.
“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 am paid,” Nyakango said at the time.
“I am not the only state officer in my institution so there is nothing like confusion there. I am all alone. So I asked why is the budget showing three times what my annual salary is. And it was like that for all the state officers. I have not received the answer to date,” she added.
