Education Cabinet Secretary Proff Magoha while speaking on Monday, July 18 after commissioning a CBC classroom at Chania Girls High School in Thika West, Kiambu County addressed reports that his staff were paid more than Ksh10 million allowance for touring the country.
Prof Magoha come out to defend the payments, saying he prefers to personally inspect projects to ensure that they are executed properly.
“I go to commission projects because I don’t trust anybody. I must make sure that I’m not given reports that can’t be verified. It’s so much better to go to jail because you went to inspect something that is there that cannot be carried away, instead of being praised for or accused of spending money that was used on something that’s not there.” Magoha stated.
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Moreover, the CS recently launched Phase II of the project aimed at putting 3,503 classrooms to add on to the 6,497 that were constructed in Phase I so as to increase spaces ahead of the transition to junior secondary school in January 2023.
Meanwhile, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu in her last audit report blamed top management of the ministry of education for spending over Ksh10 million in 2020 to pay daily subsistence allowances to staff from Nairobi headquarters to monitor the distribution of desks in schools.
According to the auditor general, that exercise could have been done by staff at county offices at a minimal or no cost at all.
“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(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 authorized and effective, efficient, economical and transparent,” reads part of the report.
Furthermore, the desks and lockers project was part of a Covid-19 economic stimulus package that was organized to facilitate social distancing and promoting local artisans whose businesses were affected by the pandemic.
Nonetheless, the CS on Monday urged contractors nationwide to expedite construction of education projects.
Proff Magoha further stated thatteachers will be upgraded on the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) through school-based programme once schools revert to the normal academic calendar in January.
