A report by the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has exposed how principals of six public institutions have been irregularly employing new staff and using public funds to pay their salaries.
Appearing before the Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education on Wednesday, June 19, the principals were put to task to explain their decisions.
The institutions in question included Bushiangala, Butere, Maasai Mara and Kenya Methodist Universities, Mukiria Technical Training Institute (TTI) and Nkabune Technical Training Institutes.
“House Committee has questioned managements of six learning institutions over their financial expenditures for the Financial Year 2016/17 – 2022/23 following glaring revelations by the Auditor-General,” a statement from the committee read in part.
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Mukiria TTI Among Principals, Admits to Breaking the Law
Micheal Maina, the principal of Mukiria TTI, was questioned for irregularly hiring 12 trainees without advertising the positions as it was a breach of the law.
“As a principal you know the hiring procedures. What you did was a breach of the law,” Bumula Mp Jack Wamboka who leads the committee asked the school head.
However, to the surprise of the committee, the principal admitted to knowingly going against the law and employing new staff without advertisement.
Maina explained that he used a shortcut to hire the trainees to teach the high number of students that were already enrolled.
“What comes first principal? Hiring trainers or enrolling students. The Committee acknowledge your sincerity but admitting that you broke the law is a serious offense,” added Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda.
At the same time, the Committee gave Nkubune TTI principal Eunice Njenga one month to recover all the money paid to the Board of Management members as allowances before they were gazetted.
The AG report noted that the college spent money on paying the board members before their appointment was formalized through a gazette notice.
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Machogu’s New Ksh5 Trillion Funding Plan
In a separate incident on June 6, Ministry of Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ezekiel Machogu launched the fourth National Education Sector Strategic Plan (NESSP) 2023-2027 that will inform funding in various schools.
According to him, the ministry will require a total amount of Ksh5.2 trillion to implement the plan for the next 5 years.
“Ksh3.47 trillion will be provided by the government, and we expect that we should be able to raise Ksh1.55 trillion from our development partners and household contributions,” said Machogu.
The announcement came following concerns of delay in capitation to various public institution.
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