Kirinyaga Governor, Anne Waiguru, was cornered by the Senate Committee on Monday over Ksh2 billion that was reportedly unaccounted for as per the auditor general's report of the 2017/2018 financial year
However, the governor was quick to shift blame to her county officers in charge of operating the Integrated Financial Management Information system(IFMIS).
She stated that the officers were not fully conversant with the system, thus leading to wrong entries and consequently errors.
“The system is as good as the people who use it. So I will not defend the officers if they do not use the system as they ought to because they are the ones who have the responsibility to ensure that they enter every entry into the system," Waiguru asserted.
Homabay Senator, Moses Kajwan'g who chaired the select committee went hard at the Governor, stating that they were not satisfied with her responses.
“I do not understand governor’s explanation because according to this report, the county received Ksh4,409,200,001 but the IFMIS report showed Ksh2,182,554,00 was the only money that was accounted for with a difference of Ksh2,226,646,001 Where is that money?” Kiambu Senator, Kimani Wamatangi, posed during his rejoinder.
The two were at each others neck during the heated hearing, with the Kiambu senator interrupting Waiguru numerous times over the course of sitting.
“I have to finish chairman; I keep on being interrupted; I cannot even finish a sentence," the Governor exclaimed at some point during the fiery exchange.
Waiguru stood her ground and deflected the burden of proof to her officers in charge of data entry into the controversial IFMIS system.
The committee chair echoed the sentiments of his colleagues and questioned why the counties would opt to continue using the IFMIS system if it was as corrupted as Waiguru claimed.
Governor Waiguru has since reaffirmed her stance and questioned why the Treasury was yet to offer a valid explanation of the numerous errors within IFMIS.
"Earlier today at the Senate hearing, I restated that systems are only as good as the people that use them. Treasury is yet to give a sufficient explanation to the IFMIS errors that occurred in county budget expenditure reporting," she tweeted.
