Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko is in trouble as more cheques issued for bursary funds are being turned down by banks due to spelling mistakes and signature mismatch.
The cheques were issued for funding secondary school education and are worth over Ksh357 Million.
The alarm was raised by Nairobi MCAs who claimed that about 76 wards had not managed to bank the cheques issued.
[caption caption="City Hall Nairobi offices"]
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Kileleshwa MCA Elias Okumu told City Hall the reason why around 69,000 cheques were being turned down was due to spelling errors and signature mismatches.
The rejection is said to have affected parents who had received the cheques since they would not be accepted by the various schools.
Addressing the matter, County Education Executive Janet Ouko dismissed the reports arguing that only a few cases had been reported and would be attended to
“I am not aware that there is any cheque that has got an error because none has been presented to me. I don’t have one cheque that has been returned,” stated Ms Ouko when asked about the concerns.
She added that the spelling mistakes would be resolved between the involved parties noting that only six parents had brought forth the complaints.
In June, Ksh297 Million allocated to bursary funds in Nairobi county were transferred to a wrong account. The funds were reportedly deposited to Maryland University in Australia.
“People took the money and deposited it in Maryland’s account for over a month before the money came. So we want to know who sent the money there and for what, and who returned the money on June 4,” stated Minority Chief Whip Peter Imwatok.
The education committee in the county tasked with the allocation of the funds admitted that there had been an error and assured the money would be recovered. The cheques which were to be issued to students amounted to 20,000 and only 10,000 cheques had been processed by June.
“The bank received the money on Monday and is currently printing 10,000 cheques daily and by the end of this week, all the cheques will be ready,” asserted Education Committee chairperson Ms Millicent Mugandi.
[caption caption="Governor Sonko at Buru Buru Girls when he opened a laboratory in the school"]
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The MCAs had also blamed the county for delaying bursary funds to students. Each ward was supposed to receive 700 bursaries worth Ksh5,000 each but not all the areas had received the bursaries.
In April, MPs had suggested that students receive funds directly as opposed to issuing them with cheques in order to curb any anomalies that would arise.
