Former Cabinet secretaries Judy Wakhungu and Dan Kazungu are on the spot for irregularly receiving Sh 7 million each in car allowances. The payments to Judi Wakhungu and Dan Kazungu were made contrary to a presidential circular that capped the upper limit of car allowances for Cabinet Secretaries at Sh 2 million.
They are further accused of failing to remit Sh 2.1 million taxes from money advanced to them during their tenure in the Cabinet.
President Uhuru dropped Wakhungu and Kazungu but appointed them Kenya’s ambassadors to France and Tanzania respectively.
The National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last week hard-pressed water and irrigation Principal Secretary Joseph Irungu to out-lay who authorized the payments against the circular issued on July 7, 2011 (Ref No CAB/56/2A).
Mr Irungu confirmed that the circular by the then head of the civil service and secretary to the Cabinet, Francis Muthaura, directed the paying department to withhold taxes. Mining PS John Omenge, appearing before the committee, could not confirm whether then Mining CS Kazungu spent the Sh 7 million to buy a car.
This comes a month after Water Cabinet secretary Simon Chelugui wrote to his Foreign Affairs counterpart Monica Juma for assistance in recovering Sh 2.1 million.
In a letter dated August 15, Chelugui said the ministry procured a vehicle for the then CS but failed to deduct the amount from Sh 7 million car allowance.
Chelugui said that in order to correct the anomaly, he requested the ministry to facilitate recovery of the Sh 2.1 million tax refund and remit the same to KRA.
“This Ministry pursuant to Presidential Circular Ref. No CAB/56/2A of July 7, 2011 procured a vehicle for the then Cabinet Secretary Ms Judy Wakhungu. The Ministry however erroneously failed to withhold tax amounting to Sh 2,100,000 which is 30 per cent of the Sh 7 million authorized car allowance.”
The anomalies in the two ministries were queried by the Auditor General in the financial year 2014/2015 and financial year2015/16.
The allowance should be granted every four years on production of documents supporting the purchase of the vehicle. “The motor vehicle being purchased must be for personal use, not for commercial purposes. Serving officers will qualify for the allowance four years after the last vehicle was purchased under the old arrangement,” says the circular. “The paying ministry or department will be required to withhold the tax element for remittance to the Kenya Revenue Authority,” it adds.