The Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) has threatened to spearhead the 'mother of all demonstrations' if the government proceeds with plans to reduce student funding or fails to disburse capitation to all schools before school reopening next month.
In a press briefing on Sunday, July 27, the DCP Deputy Party Leader, Cleophas Malala, claimed that the party will not allow schools to reopen for the third term if the government fails to disburse the funds to all institutions in the next four weeks.
Malala cautioned that the reduction and delay of school capitation, which he labelled as a "life-threatening decision," will affect the operations of the schools, in addition to denying thousands of students across the country quality education.
"That is a life-threatening decision that this regime is committing, and we are going to put up a mother of all demonstrations, and so we urged the government to disburse the remaining capitation money before opening day," Malala said.
"If the government fails to do that, no school will be opened if all the capitation money has not been disbursed to all schools in Kenya," he added.
Malala further took a swipe at leaders, especially those who are aligned with the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, whom he claims are supporting the government's move to reduce capitation funds to these institutions instead of opposing it.
"Some leaders in parliament and the executive are fully supporting the government, and even the head of treasury is a Raila supporter, and therefore, it is Raila and his supporters who are pushing for the capitation reduction," Malala said.
Speaking before the National Assembly Committee on Education on Thursday, July 24, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi claimed that the government cannot sustain the full capitation to primary and secondary schools in the 2025/2026 financial year.
Furthermore, the CS cautioned of potential funding cuts for University students, including cutting university students' capitation and closure of some campuses.
"If you look at the budget of the year and divide it by the total number of students, you will realise that instead of funding Ksh22,000, we are now funding at Ksh16,000 and so we release 50 per cent, 30 per cent and 20 per cent for each term," Mbadi said.
However, days later, in a statement on Saturday, July 26, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba refuted claims that the government will scrap capitation for free primary and secondary school education.
According to the CS, the government will instead reduce the capitation in this financial year, a situation he attributed to increased enrolment in educational institutions across the country.
On his part, President William Ruto, who spoke during a church service on Sunday, July 27, stressed that the education sector will remain a key focus for the government. According to Ruto, he will remain at the vanguard of advocating for free primary and secondary education.
"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," Ruto said.
