President William Ruto has assured Kenyans that free basic education is still a priority for the government, just hours after his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, accused him of embezzling education capitation funds.
Speaking at St Martin's ACK Church in Kariobangi on Sunday, the President assured that the government had embarked on several initiatives since he took office to ensure that students continued to be empowered.
"I want to assure you that free primary and secondary education is a constitutional right of every Kenyan, and we have made sure that in the last two years, we have had several initiatives to ensure that education is truly universal and accessible," he said.
"The commitment we have is that education is the greatest empowerment that any society and country can give to its young people, and that is why education must be affordable, accessible, of good quality and relevant."
Among these initiatives, he mentioned the building of classrooms, amounting to 23,000 in the past two years alone, with Nairobi MPs reportedly receiving Ksh1 billion to decongest the city's classrooms.
He also highlighted the increase in the money allocated for the new funding model to ensure that more university students have access to funding for higher learning.
Thirdly, he mentioned the 76,000 teachers hired in the past two years, promising to employ 24,000 more by January.
He further pointed out the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (KUPPET), set to increase teachers' salaries by 6 per cent to 29 per cent.
"I just want to give assurance that education can not be compromised, we cannot compromise access, we cannot compromise quality, we cannot compromise affordability, and we cannot compromise relevance. It must be what we are looking for," he declared.
This assertion comes just hours after his former deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, alleged that the money meant for education was being funnelled to State House through the National Intelligence Service (NIS) every Friday.
"Money meant for education has been diverted from the National Treasury through the National Intelligence Service. It is withdrawn in cash every Friday and given to the President in cash," Gachagua alleged.
The debate erupted on Thursday after CS Mbadi announced that the government was reducing the capitation to schools and would not be able to sustain the growing number of enrolments in schools.
The capitation grant for secondary schools would now be Ksh16,900 per child, down from Ksh22,244.
"Currently, learners are provided with tuition and operations costs at the rate of Ksh1,420 for primary education. For junior school, it is Ksh15,042 per child, and in senior secondary school, it is Ksh22,244 per child," he stated.
"However, due to constrained fiscal space and other emerging priorities within the education sector, updating these rates might be untenable. The government will, however, consider reviewing this rate should revenue performance improve."
