Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has clarified reports alleging the misappropriation of Ksh1.4 billion bursary funds.
Sakaja was put on the spot by Embakasi East MP Babu Owino who claimed that the Governor misreported the actual amount channelled to MCAs.
The MP claimed that the Governor had indicated funneling Ksh23 million to each ward. As such, he countered, holding that the disbursed amount was Ksh6 million.
“You have MCAs 1200 bursary forms at Ksh5,000 each which amounts to Ksh6 million and not the Ksh23 million which you are claiming,” Babu stated.
Babu stated that every ward is supposed to get Ksh23 million per year and maintained Sakaja gave out Ksh6 million.
This the MP said, left Ksh1.4 billion unaccounted for.
In response, Sakaja stated that Nairobi County helped needy students through bursaries and Ward-based Development Funds (WDF).
He accused the Member of Parliament of confusing WDF with bursaries.
“Bursaries are Ksh7 million per ward for the 85 wards (in Nairobi),” the Governor explained adding that each ward got Ksh2.5 million, Ksh2.5 million and Ksh3 million for term 1, term 2 and term 3 respectively.
He added that this was up from Ksh4.5 million that was issued by the previous administration.
He added that, apart from the bursary, every ward was getting Ksh23 million in the form of WDF.
Again, he added that his administration had raised this amount from Ksh17 million.
The clarification came a few hours after Sakaja defended his scorecard after he was ranked the poorest-performing governor in Kenya.
"I see such ratings and laugh. Nairobi has collected the highest revenue in 5 years and paid Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) Ksh7,640 per month, as of August 2022,” he defended his achievements.
He added that under his leadership, Nairobi had built its first Intensive Care Unit (ICU), a second renal unit and first-ever Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
