'It was an error': Nyakango walks back Sh45m report on Joyce Kindiki's office

Office of the Deputy President along Harambee Avenue on March 1, 2025. [Jenipher Wachie, Standard]

The Controller of Budget, Margaret Nyakang’o, has clarified that the Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President did not spend funds as previously indicated.

In a letter dated March 12, 2026, addressed to Principal Administrative Secretary Moses Mbaruku, Nyakang’o acknowledged inconsistencies published in the Financial and Non-Financial Performance Report for the first six months of the 2025/2026 financial year.

According to Nyakang’o, an expenditure of Sh44.52 million had been incorrectly mapped to the Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President (OSDP) Affirmative Action Intervention sub-programme, instead of the correct Government Strategic Priority Intervention sub-programme.

“This office has counterchecked with the budget performance report submitted by the Office of the DP and concurs that the analysis contained incorrectly mapped expenditure,” Nyakang’o stated.

She attributed the anomaly to a technical error arising from the interchange of figures between two sub-programmes in the reporting template. “My office regrets the error and has since corrected it in the republished report,” she said, referring to the revised version released last week, adding that measures would be implemented to prevent similar errors in the future.

“Going forward, we will institute necessary interventions to avoid a repeat of similar errors." 

The COB also noted that a previous report for the first quarter of the same financial year had recorded an expenditure of Sh265,000 under the OSDP sub-programme, a figure missing in the six-month report.

“This information was published in our report for the first quarter… but was missing in the ODP’s submission for the first six months, which may suggest inconsistent reporting,” she noted. 

The incident comes amid growing scrutiny over the accuracy and reliability of financial reporting by government institutions, especially with increasing public demand for accountability in the use of public funds.