Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba has refuted claims that the government disbursed Ksh1.1 billion to hundreds of ghost schools across the country.
Speaking on Wednesday, Ogamba clarified that he had never confirmed the existence of ghost schools, and that what he had meant was that some schools had yet to provide the necessary data for the ongoing verification process. Therefore, the ministry had not yet disbursed the Ksh1.1 billion in capitation at the time he made his remarks in parliament.
He added that, as approximately 990 schools had not yet sent the required data, the Ministry had decided to disburse only 50 per cent of the capitation to some of these schools.
"We did not say that there are ghost schools. What I indicated in Parliament is that as at the time I was in Parliament that day, we had not released a Ksh1.1 billion to schools that had not submitted the data," Ogamba said.
"What happened is that schools did not submit the data, we decided not to pay a number of them 50 per cent of the capitation. They were about 990 schools as at that time."
As such, he assured the members of the public that the actual data will be released once the exercise is completed.
While appearing before the National Assembly a week ago on November 5, the CS told lawmakers that the government had been disbursing Ksh1.1 billion to "students that do not exist".
These remarks drew criticism from the MPs who took it to mean that the government had been disbursing the money to schools that do not exist.
“This exercise has bone fruits, because as we have completed the exercise with only 934 schools yet to be verified," Ogamba told the MPs, adding, "The balance we are having is Ksh1.1 billion that we have been releasing to students that do not exist, that is why this exercise is important.”
Therefore, the MPs demanded to know what action the CS had taken against ministry officers, particularly given his admission that corruption is widespread within his docket.
"You have officers who have a duty to keep and update records of schools continuously, that public money has been wired to non-existent schools for non-existent students, how many of your officers have you interdicted for doing this criminal act?” National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula asked.
However, the CS relayed that since the verification process is not yet complete, no action had been taken yet as that could only be done once the culpable officers have been identified.
Since the exercise began, the Ministry has announced the closure of 10 secondary schools citing a lack of students in the schools.
