A section of Azimio politicians have questioned the motive behind the arrest of the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakango.
Led by Narok County Senator Ledama Ole Kina, the leaders expressed their displeasure with the development holding that her arrest is a bad look for Kenya's democracy and goes on to show how the system is crooked.
“Welcome to Kenya where the police take action on a complaint 7 years later … only crooks can survive in a rotten system.” Ole Kina remarked in a statement.
Ole Kina read a sinister motive and told the Kenya Kwanza government to ammend the constitution and abolish the Controller of Budget's (CoB's) office instead of employing underhand tactics to frustrate her work.
“You don’t arrest the Controller of Budget her job is clearly defined in the constitution. If you have a problem with her role to oversee the implementation of the budgets, amend the constitution” Ledama remarked in a statement.
On his part, Saboti Member of Parliament (MP) Caleb Amisi equated the arrest to political persecution geared at blackmailing her to stop exposing corruption in government.
“She has been at the forefront of fighting corruption that is deeply embedded in both the central government and county governments. We must celebrate stern astute women” Amisi stated.
Away from Azimio circles, Third Way Alliance leader Ekuru Aukot opined that the arrest will tarnish the National Police Service (NPS) image and portray it as an agency being misused to advance political agendas.
“A clear case of politicising the investigative agencies. This action erodes public confidence in the police service.” Aukot remarked.
The controller of budget was arrested on Tuesday in Mombasa.
Commenting online, many observers linked the COB's tribulations to a presentation where she accused some senior government officials in the Treasury of graft masterminded through budgeted corruption.
Appearing before the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO), Nyakang'o revealed that the National Treasury had inflated her salary budget three times, with the excess never hitting her account.
"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'm paid. I am the only state officer in my institution so there is nothing like confusion there," she said.
