Barely a month after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki gifted Garissa University Ksh1 million, the institution seems to be engulfed in a scandal over the handling of the funds.
In an interview with Kenyans.co.ke on Wednesday, Steven Okeyo, the Secretary General of the Students Association, lifted the lid on how a part of the funds was mishandled, landing some of the students in police custody.
On November 13, the CS graced the institution to mark the newly inaugurated tree-planting holiday and gifted the institution's students Ksh1 million, which was expected to cater to the learners' entertainment.
The institution's former student President Aden Rage Abdul, in a phone conversation with this writer, revealed that they took the money to the institution's vice chancellor for direction who asked them to plan for its use independently.
That evening, Okeyo alleges, the student leaders met and agreed to withdraw Ksh500,000 from the token that was under the supervision of the institution's security.
"We got advised by the Head of Security alongside other staff to keep the money in safe lock in the university finance office to give us room for planning and budgeting. The key to the safe lock was handed over to the university president," he stated.
Six of the student leaders received Ksh50,000 each while one received Ksh60,000 leaving a balance of Ksh640,000.
The institution's former student President corroborated the claim indicating that the student leaders pocketed the funds as payment for their service. The team, which is entitled to a monthly stipend of Ksh7,500, had clocked more than three and a half months with no pay.
The next day, the student leadership convened to plan a party for the rest of the student body, he alleged, only to find the rest of the funds missing.
"On the morning that followed, November 14, I went to class, I got a call from the security head to report to him somewhere near the university administration block. When I got closer, I found a handful of police officers waiting for me in a Landcruiser," Okeyo recalled.
"Fear consumed me and back to class, he instructed the police officers to come and eject me. They informed me that all the money was missing from the safe lock. They arrested me and put me under custody until 3 pm when the President (of the student association) came and took us to the OCPD to write a statement."
Okeyo alleges that the police commander approved their plans to hold a party with the remainder of Ksh640,000 which had been recovered but the institution's Dean of Students Rosalia Mumo reportedly halted the plans.
All the student leaders thereafter were ordered to refund all the money they awarded themselves but two, including Okeyo, could not return the full amount according to the institution's Head of Security Idris Dekow, who responded to Kenyans.co.ke questions via a phone call.
Dekow confirmed that some of the student leaders returned the money and the total refund stood at 90 per cent. Only two were yet to follow through.
"90 per cent has been recovered. Two individuals have not surrendered what they took. The problem remains that a crime has been committed. We took it to the police and the matter was reported and a committee has been set up to investigate the same," stated Dekow.
The former student body President, who has since finished his studies, however, argues that upon the arrest of some of interim leadership, the police demanded Ksh90,000 as bail. Okeyo, on the other hand, insists that his proposal to refund Ksh20,000, as he raised the other Ksh30,000, has been declined by the institution.
The rest of the student body, which was privy to the gift, was growing impatient over the delay of the party and attempted to lynch the student leaders upon learning that a section of the funds had gone missing. No one was injured.
Okeyo, however, claims that since the accusations were made, he has borne the brunt of deregistration and was unable to sit the semester examinations which kicked off last week Friday.
"Up to now, the security head deregistered me from the system and ejected me from the university, exams started on Monday am not able to do exams," he lamented.
Mumo, in a text message to this publisher, denies that any candidates were deregistered from the system.
"Am (sic) not aware of any students who have been deregistered," she stated without elaborating.
