Meru governor Kawira Mwangaza has denied reports of excessive personal spending on foreign trips as highlighted in a report by the controller of the budget.
A report made by the Controller of Budget (COB) showed that the Meru County government spent Sh903 million on foreign travel.
“I am shocked and dismayed by the fact that a Government Agency, Controller of Budget can give a false report at a time when our Country Kenya is in need of factual information to avoid civil unrest,” she said.
In a Facebook post, she said that the county executive spent only Sh910,000 adding that the CoB made an error in calculating the amount spent by his administration.
“The report, in the first sentence accurately indicates that Meru County spent Sh 43.75 million on foreign travel. Out of this, the County Assembly spent Sh 42.84 million,” Mwangaza said.
“Therefore the difference should be only Sh910,000 less than Sh1 million and not Sh903 million and it is a fact that Meru executive spent S 910,000,” she said.
In its report for the Financial Year 2023/ 2024, CoB said Meru’s expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Sh342.00 million.
This comprised Sh182.11 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh159.89 million by the County Executive.
“Expenditure on foreign travel amounted to Sh.43.75 million and comprised Sh42.84 million by the County Assembly and Sh903.20 million by the County Executive,” CoB said in the report.
However, the addition of Sh42.84m spent by the county assembly plus Sh903.20 CoB said the county executive spent does not tally with ShSh43.75 million which was the cumulative expenditure for the county.
If the county assembly spent Sh42.84m, then the right calculation would mean that the county executive spent Sh910m (Sh43.75-Sh42.84m = Sh910,000).
Additionally, Mwangaza noted that since 2022, she has never spent any public money to facilitate a foreign trip.
In response, she called upon the Controller of Budget to rectify the error in their report.
