A fierce battle for control of the millions of shillings allocated to the Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary is said to have led to the resignation of Principal Secretary (PS) for Correctional Services Esther Ngero, the first high-ranking official in President William Ruto’s cabinet to resign.
Ms Ngero was the head of the State Department for Performance and Delivery Management in Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi’s office prior to her reassignment to the Ministry of Interior and National Administration.
She was assisting PS Aurelia Rono, who was in charge of Parliamentary Affairs.
Mr Mudavadi’s office is in charge of implementing national government policies and coordinating the national legislative agenda in collaboration with Kenya Kwanza leaders in both the National Assembly and the Senate.
Mr Mudavadi’s office received Sh751.9 million for its recurrent budget in the Supplementary Budget for Fiscal Year 2022/2023.
According to National Treasury guidelines, each government ministry has only one accounting officer.
In cases where there is more than one PS, the accounting officer will be in charge of the State Department in charge of the Cabinet deliverables.
Ms Ngero was the accounting officer for the Prime Cabinet Secretary’s Office prior to her reassignment.
A fight between Ms Ngero and Ms Rono over control of the cash allocated to Mr Mudavadi’s office is said to have escalated and caused bad blood between the two high-ranking officials, according to a source.
The ensuing fight was brought to President William Ruto’s attention, who decided that Ms Rono should be the accounting officer.
This did not sit well with Ms Ngero, who complained about being short-changed despite tirelessly lobbying for the position of PS.
President Ruto appointed former Kiambu County Finance Chief Officer Faith Njeri Harrison to take Ms Ngero’s place at Mr Mudavadi’s office in a communication from the Chief of Staff last week.
