- In her report, Gathungu queried another Sh834million which was disbursed to six constituent colleges but were not linked to specific projects.
- Gathungu said eleven out of forty-one institutions witnessed a significant increase in capitation.
Image: MERCY MUMO
Public and private universities received funds for unknown projects in the financial year ended June 30, 2020.
Auditor general Nancy Gathungu questioned the disbursement of Sh5,580,848,844 whose documents were not provided by the State Department of University Education.
According to a circular by the Ministry of Education, the development budget for all universities is dependent on specific project completion certificates.
The certificates are then submitted to the ministry for consideration and concurrence.
“No contract documents, valuation certificates, or projects status reports were availed by the state department in support of the disbursements,” the report reads.
Also queried was Multimedia University which received Sh619,514 above the approved budget.
In the previous financial year, Multimedia University was unable to remit pension and gratuity of Sh334 million.
MMU was also unable to pay audit fees of Sh4.9 million and taxes amounting to Sh467 million to the respective beneficiaries.
In her report, Gathungu queried another Sh834million which was disbursed to six constituent colleges.
She said the disbursements were not linked to specific projects.
“A review of the monitoring and evaluation report indicated ongoing projects in the respective institutions, the funds disbursed may be prone to misuse,” the report reads.
The institutions are Koitalel Samoei University College Sh79million, Gatundu University College Sh82million and Bomet University College Sh275million.
Others are Tom Mboya University College Sh105million, Alupe University College Sh150million and Kaimosi University College Sh141million.
Gathungu said eleven out of forty-one institutions witnessed a significant increase in capitation.
She questioned the basis of the increase of capitation to the respective institutions and the reduction of capitation to Koitalel Samoei University College.
“Their capitations amount increased by 20 per cent and above while the capitation for Koitalel Samoei University College was reduced by 17 per cent,” the report reads.
In the 2018-2019 financial year, Koitalel University received Sh9.5 million which was later reduced to Sh7.9 million in the subsequent year.
The state department for university education also has pending bills amounting to Sh1.3 million which were not paid as of June 30, 2020.
Also queried were pending bills that were carried forward to the 2020-2021 financial year.
“Failure to settle bills in the year to which they relate adversely affects the subsequent year’s provisions since the bills form the first charge to that year’s budget provisions,” the report reads.
In the said financial year, public universities were allocated Sh97.7 billion.
The government also set aside Sh12.6 billion to the Higher Education Loans Board.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)