A report by Auditor-General Edward Ouko revealed that the Ministry of Education, under CS Amina Mohamed at the time, was unable to utilise Ksh10 billion allocated for the 2017/2018 financial year.
All unutilised budget allocations are returned to the National Treasury for redistribution at the end of every financial year.
This happened despite the fact that lecturers mounted a 75-day strike demanding a salary increase.
The strike paralysed learning in the institutions and the government offered Ksh3.6 billion which the university dons rejected.
They were forced to give up their strike and resume work without a cent through sheer coercion and intimidation and threats of dismissal.
Public universities were also complaining of a severe cash crunch caused by low funding.
Of the Ksh100 billion that had been allocated, Ksh4.3 billion was to be used for development and Ksh96 billion for recurrent expenditure.
The Auditor-General has appealed to ministries to review their budgets with a view to improving effectiveness and efficiency in managing public resources.
“There is need for the department to relook at its budgeting mechanism with a view to budget for priority areas to avoid over budgeting.
There is also a need, therefore, for the ministry to plan a realistic budget with the resources available,” advised Ouko.
The AG also reported that the State Department of University had pending bills totalling Ksh1.3 billion, which were not settled in the 2017/2018, but were instead carried forward to the 2018/2019 financial year.
