On Thursday, April 11, the National Assembly Public Investments Committee gave Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu a fortnight to deal with rogue officers behind the Edu Afya debacle.
This after reports emerged that some learning institutions allegedly received double funding which the CS claimed was facilitated by rogue officials attached to the said institutions.
Following the concerns, the committee directed the CS to harmonise his report and that of the Auditor General in two weeks and to hold accountable any officer involved.
“Students have been suffering since the Edu Afya program ended on December 31, 2022, and the ministry is silent on the way forward,” noted a committee member.
While defending himself, CS Machogu noted that the ministry had established a refund program with the universities that had received double funding, resulting in the recovery of Ksh 4.4M out of Ksh 19M.
The CS also noted that the officers who were in charge of the programs were under probe and had been put to task to facilitate the ministry with relevant documents.
The legislators called on CS Machogu to put in place a transition program that will act in place of now defunct, EDU Afya.
Concerns were also raised that some institutions had overplaced students beyond their declared capacities.
The committee questioned whether the move was a ploy by rogue officers from the ministry working with the accounting officers of private universities to siphon government funds.
"Heads will roll. We can't be having fraudulent officers minting public funds at the expense of very deserving youths,” noted MP Jack Wamboka.
During the meeting, the CS was also put on task to shed light on the cause of dysfunction in public educational institutions.
Machogu was also compelled to outline the plans the ministry had put in place to improve the management of educational institutions so that they could adequately deliver on their mandate.
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