Former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani dropped a bombshell revealing how Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua made a request for Sh1.59 billion after the August 2022 poll.

Yatani made the revelations in a terse statement responding to claims by Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o that he coerced her to approve Sh15 billion state spending.

It is while denying the claims by Nyakang’o that the former Treasury boss revealed that he had received a request on behalf of Gachagua seeking Sh1.59 billion to use in his office.

Yatani says the request was made under Article 223 of the constitution that allows the National Government to spend cash then seek parliamentary approval within two months.

“Just to mention, immediately after the 2022 election, a request on behalf of the current Deputy President was presented to my office under the same article 223 for approval and disbursement of Ksh1.59 Billion for his office use,” said Yatani in the statement.

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According to the former CS in the President Uhuru Kenyatta administration, the monies were needed for hospitality and to purchase vehicles for the Deputy President’s office.

But Yatani revealed that he declined parts of the request for DP Gachagua and only approved less than a third of the amount demanded by the offices of the new second in command.

“It included Ksh300 million for cars, and Ksh330 million for hospitality, a request that I did not grant in full but considered an amount of Kshs 500 Million due to the financial constraints we had at that time,” he explained.

He wondered why the Controller of Budget did not divulge details on the request even as he vowed his hands were clean saying that all operations at the National Treasury are public.


“This information like all others are in public domain and I have nothing to hide because of the nature of operations at the national treasury,” Yatani added.

The controversial Sh15 billion was approved by the National Assembly last week as part of the Sh127.5 billion Supplementary Budget as presented by Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung’u.


Following the Parliamentary approval, the Supplementary Budget was signed into law by President William Ruto on Tuesday during a ceremony held at State House Nairobi.

Yatani replied days after DP Gachagua claimed officials from the Uhuru administration carted away Sh15 billion and threatened to name those behind the alleged scam.