- The lawmaker said JKF which has been in operation for more than 30 years should be balanced when offering scholarships.
- JKF Managing Director David Mwaniki explained that the bursaries are offered in an open system.
Image: EZEKIEL AMINGA
Kiminini MP Kakai Bisau now wants the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (JKF) to submit a list of scholarship beneficiaries for the past five years.
Speaking during the Public Investments Committee on Education and Governance, Bisau said the list should also involve the hometowns of the students.
"We have set a bad precedence as a country that most beneficiaries are always aligned with top management of these organizations," Bisau said.
The lawmaker said JKF which has been in operation for more than 30 years should be balanced when offering scholarships.
"From Trans Nzoia County I have never heard of a student who has benefitted from JKF scholarships, so your list should involve constituencies where the students come from," he said.
This is even as JKF Managing Director David Mwaniki explained that the bursaries are offered in an open system.
This is as he revealed ongoing plans to make JKF the main scholarship manager for all school bursaries.
"Once it is formalized, JKF will scale down on publishing and shift most of the focus on scholarships," Mwaniki said.
Previously, Basic Education PS Belio Kipsang said the ministry will build the capacity to implement the process.
"The government is at the advanced stage of ensuring the mandate becomes fulfilled by JKF," Kipsang said.
This means students will soon have to apply for all bursaries through one organization
The PS said the ministry will ensure JKF can sustain and play the role.
In 2022, JKF was fronted as the most suitable foundation to take up the centralisation role.
"As we prepare JKF to play the central role we envisage that you become our national body for managing scholarships," he said.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu cast doubt on whether some payments running into millions from the kitty reached the beneficiaries.
Among the instances, the 2021 review reveals, is where officials received applications for Sh10 million but withdrew a million more.
Gathungu said that while the books showed students sought scholarships worth Sh10,020,000, bank statements showed Sh11,549,355 was withdrawn.
Further to this, details of the beneficiaries’ names and admission numbers together with receipts from the schools were not provided for audit review.
Still, at JKF, the auditor says she could not confirm how the management settled on Sh24 million as the amount for the scholarship fund that year.
The auditor’s case is that the management did not provide for an audit, the basis of how the amount was arrived at.
She pointed out that the team did not provide the Scholarship Fund policy, board minutes supporting the appropriation of the fund and the monthly transfers of Sh2 million to the fund account.
“In the circumstances, the accuracy and validity of the scholarship appropriation account balance of Sh24 million could not be confirmed.”
Besides the bursary queries, the auditor has also flagged an expenditure of Sh39 million the foundation spent on distribution of books.