Governor Waiguru lectures journalist in live TV interview
Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru on Monday morning gave Citizen TV journalist Sam Gituku a serious tongue lashing in a live interview after he veered off-script.
Gituku had hosted the Kirinyaga Governor on Day Break breakfast show to speak about her county’s preparedness in the fight against Covid-19.
After the Covid-19 discussion, Gituku attempted to introduce a question about the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) investigations on misappropriation of Sh 50 million by Waiguru’s office.
“There is another story that came from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) saying that about Sh 50 million was improperly utilized,” Gituku said before Waiguru promptly cut him short.
“No, that’s not what the EACC said. Please do not misquote the EACC. The EACC did not say that any money has been misappropriated. Please, Sam be very careful you don’t be used for political reasons and do not misquote the EACC,” Waiguru said.
She further asked the journalist to stop picking conversation from social media or newspaper reports.
INVESTIGATION
“The county assembly is the one who made that accusation. I said I welcome an independent investigation from the bodies authorized to investigate. Am I clear? So it was not the EACC, it was the county assembly. I said from where I seat the EACC should look into the matter. And I said they are very welcome and they have asked for the documents,” Waiguru said.
“We will discuss the coronavirus. If you want us to discuss the issues of the preparedness of the coronavirus, I am willing to do that. However, I am not willing to be pulled into a conversation that has something to do with politics because this interview was based on coronavirus preparedness,” Waiguru went on.
“We are now discussing issues of hostilities, innuendos; we are now pushing an agenda that I am not very sure what you are trying to achieve. I think we were supposed to be focusing on the issues of preparedness, how prepared are we? You haven’t asked me how many masks we are producing in Kirinyaga,” she continued.
In the EACC saga, reports had emerged that the agency was onto Governor Waiguru and other officials over Sh50 million irregular tender payments.