Education Cabinet Secretary, Prof George Magoha, defended the Ksh10 million allowances gobbled by ministry officials during inspection and distribution of lockers in schools across the country.
Speaking to the media on Monday, July 18, while commissioning a classroom at Chania Girls High School in Thika, Kiambu County, the CS noted that he took up the responsibility to ensure that the task is executed with precision.
He added that he stood by his word and would rather end up in jail for something that he did than be praised for what did not happen.
"I go to commission projects because I do not trust anybody. I must make sure that I’m not given reports that cannot be verified."
"It’s so much better to go to jail because you inspected something that is tangible instead of being praised for or accused of spending money that was spent for something that is not factual," he stated.
A report by the Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu had flagged the Ministry of Education for spending allowances amounting to Ksh10 million to pay their staff to inspect the distribute desks in schools.
In the report, Gathungu faulted the Ministry for not using cost-effective measures to perform the tasks-arguing that the allowances contravened the 2012 Public Finance Management Act.
“The state department has established offices in all counties and the staff in these offices could have been used with minimal or no costs."
"This expenditure was therefore against Section 79, sub-section 2b of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 which states that a public officer employed in a National Government state organ or public entity should ensure that resources within the officer’s area of responsibility are used in a way that is lawful and authorised and effective, efficient, economical and transparent," read part of the report.
The education CS has been touring various parts of the country ahead of the transition of Grade 6 candidates to Junior High School in January 2023.
The looming transition will be a milestone in the continuous shift to the Competency-Based Curriculum from the 8-4-4 syllabus.
