Githunguri Member of Parliament, Gathoni Wamuchomba, recalled how former President Uhuru Kenyatta summoned her after Parliament rejected to approve funds for the National Youth Service (NYS).
Speaking to Spice FM on Thursday, April 27, the former radio presenter lauded parliamentarians of the 12 Parliament who shot down the proposal to fund the NYS after multi-million shilling scandals rocked the government project.
“There is one thing the 12 Parliament did that I will forever remember. Remember the scams around the NYS? We stopped the allocation after realising that we were putting money into a hole and people are harvesting on the other side.
“I remember the President of the day forcing us … he summoned me and said, (I quote) “What is this I’m hearing that you are denying my NYS (money)?”
"I said, “It is not yours, Your Excellency, it belongs to the people, and we cannot keep on putting money into a hole, and we don’t know who is harvesting the money,” she stated.
Additionally, she noted that the budget deduction had unanimous support with MPs from both the majority and the minority sides agreeing to deny funds to the scandal-hit project.
Furthermore, she encouraged people to give MPs credit where it is due, especially, when they stop wanton looting of public resources.
She stated that President William Ruto had encouraged MPs to oversee national government projects from inception to implementation.
In the same interview, she waded into the national revenue-sharing debate saying counties with high populations face high rates of urban poverty, thus, require more funds than large counties with few people.
NYS was Uhuru's pet project with the former President resuscitating the project, which dwindled during the late President Daniel Moi’s tenure.
On November 22, 2015, the then Cabinet Secretary of Devolution and Planning, Anne Waiguru, stepped down because of the NYS scandal.
In June 2018, MPs slashed the annual NYS budget by a whooping Ksh8 billion. This was due to the financial misconduct that had hit the state agency.
The scandal led to some arrests, including four members of the famous Ngirita family.
