The Ministry of Education is facing scrutiny following startling revelations shared in Senate by Kajiado Senator Kanar Seki concerning a staggering Ksh183 billion in school funding that has allegedly vanished or been mismanaged.
During a session on Wednesday, July 22, Senator Seki detailed findings from a special audit report for the Financial Years 2020/2021 and 2021/2022, which revealed widespread underfunding and alarming financial improprieties within the Ministry's operations.
According to the damning report, public schools across various levels were collectively underfunded by hundreds of billions.
This included a Ksh71 billion shortfall for public secondary schools, Ksh31 billion for Junior Secondary Schools (JSS), Ksh14 billion for primary schools, and Ksh67 billion for Special Needs Education (SNE) programs in secondary schools.
"These revelations raise fundamental questions about transparency and accountability within the Ministry of Education and related agencies," Senator Seki declared, urging immediate action.
"Disbursing billions to non-existent or non-operational schools, while learners face teacher shortages, infrastructure challenges, congestion, and delayed funding, is a betrayal of the Kenyan people,” Seki said.
The Senator asked the Senate’s Standing Committee on Education to explain the steps being taken to address underfunding, mostly JSS, given the high operational and infrastructural demands posed by the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
He questioned the committee how 14 ghost schools were included in the National Education Management Information System(NEMIS) without proper verification.
Seki demanded the identification of officials from the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury responsible for the inclusion and irregular payments.
He, however, asked for an update on actions being taken to recover lost funds and hold the individuals accountable.
The Committee was also asked to establish whether the ministry had an intention of carrying out a verification exercise to ensure accuracy and integrity of data in the NEMIS.
According to Seki, the verification will avert loss of public funds through further disbursement of capitation funds to non-existent or non-operational schools.
