My 7-hour night road trip: Margaret Nyakang’o narrates how she was arrested in Nairobi and driven to Mombasa

Controller of Budget Dr. Margaret Nyakang’o has revealed details surrounding her controversial arrest and arraignment in Mombasa that started off in Nairobi’s Karen area.

Nyakang’o told Citizen TV of how what had been billed as a statement taking visit to the capital ended up in Mombasa after a night road trip.

She says her tribulations originated from a Sacco membership she abandoned as soon as she was appointed as the Controller of Budget, wondering who exactly is after her.

The images of Nyakang’o along the corridors of the Mombasa Law Courts told of a distressed State officer, on a morning that had seen claims of her being taken to record a statement.

She told Citizen TV by way of phone that she has been on leave since the start of the month, that on Monday, December 4, she had been out in Karen playing golf, making her way back home in the evening.

She said that on reaching home, she - in the company of her husband - realized that they were being followed by a vehicle, whose occupants told them she was needed to record a statement at the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in Nairobi's Central Business District (CBD).

She persuaded the officers to take the statement from her home office, but they were determined to take the town tour. Dr. Nyakang’o says one of the officers asked her to dress warmly and she wondered why.

The Controller of Budget says she was taken to the CBK at the Anti-Banking Fraud Unit which is manned by DCI officers.

She was never required to write a statement and the officers told her that they were under instructions to take her to Mombasa.

Nyakang’o says she told the officers she had not eaten the entire day. The officers allowed her husband to get her some food, which he did and brought some for the officers.

She says her husband was asked to return home, as she took the long night journey to Mombasa by road.

She says she reached Mombasa on Tuesday morning and was taken to the CBK Mombasa office where she was handed over to the local DCI officers and was later taken to court for prosecution.

Nyakang’o says that back in 2019, she saw a call from a Sacco that needed someone to sit on its board. She expressed interest to one of the officials in Nairobi where she was informed there was a plan to expand the Fountain Enterprise Program Sacco by bringing experts on board.

She says she was asked to sign up as a member which she did by filling the registration forms. Nyakang’o says she was advised to save up to Ksh.100,000 by the time of holding of the Sacco’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) when she would be elected to sit on the board.

She says that in October 2019, she was interviewed and vetted for the Controller of Budget job and when she learnt she had been successful, she approached the Sacco saying she needed to exit.

She says she converted her saving of about half a million shillings into two plots of land which she topped up to secure.

The Controller of Budget says she later learned during the investigations into the Sacco that she had been listed as part of the board despite not having been elected in an AGM. She says she told the investigator in the case as much who looked satisfied and left.

Nyakang’o says that she is surprised that out of a list of eleven persons listed for prosecution, she was the only one in court in Mombasa after a night road trip. She says she does not know who is looking for her, who is after her.

She is accused of conspiracy to defraud and operating a Sacco without a licence among other charges, and is presently out on a cash bail of Ksh.500,000.