Goons on Tuesday disrupted issuance of bursary cheques in Malindi amid blame game between Kilifi education officials and an MCA over irregular allocations and political schemes.
The issuance of bursary cheques to beneficiaries from Malindi Town ward was being conducted by the county education board together with Kilifi education and vocational training chief officer Fredrick Nguma at the Malindi Municipality Hall.
But that venue was disputed as it is located outside Malindi Town ward in nearby Shella ward.
Nguma said the hall was chosen after the Malindi Town ward bursary committee was disbanded.
“We decided to come and distribute the cheques here (municipal hall) because this is where our subcounty offices are and it is accessible and neutral,” he said.
He said the decision was reached after they got a complaint letter from the Malindi Town ward that the bursary allocated in the financial year 2022-23 there were funds allocated to a ghost school called Belugha Girls’ Secondary.
When contacted for comment, Malindi Town MCA Rashid Odhiambo, however, denied those claims saying the meeting was disrupted by agitated residents who were not happy that their bursaries were being issued from another ward.
MCA Odhiambo also dismissed claims that there were cheques issued to a nonexistent school, terming the move by the board to decide to issue cheques "political".
Authorities disbanded the ward bursary committee and then wrote different letters to the Ministry of Education and the county government to establish if indeed there was a private school called Belugha Girls Secondary.
This is when it was resolved that the scholarship board would disburse the cheques and they chose the Malindi Municipal Hall as a neutral place to distribute the cheques.
As the board was going on with the process at the municipal, the goons stormed the venue and demanded the process to be halted saying it was supposed to be held in the ward and not at the Municipal Hall, which is in Shella ward.
Beneficiaries who had come to collect cheques fled to safety while the county officials were forced to stop the process to prevent the intruders from destroying the cheques.
When journalists arrived at the scene, those who had disrupted the event had left and just a few of the beneficiaries who had remained behind were being given cheques. Authorities said beneficiaries should visit the office of the subcounty administrator.
Nguma said they specifically came to distribute cheques after disbanding the bursary committee of the Malindi Town ward.
“We decided to come and distribute the cheques here (municipal hall) because this is where our subcounty offices are. This venue is accessible and neutral,” he said.
Nguma said the decision was reached after they got a complaint letter from the Malindi Town ward that in the bursary allocated for 2022-23 there were funds allocated to a suspicious school called Belugha Girls’ Secondary School.
Nguma said they first convened a meeting to find out the truth from the residents and the MCA but it was chaotic, forcing the meeting to be called off.
The chief officer said after investigations, both the Ministry of Education and the county department of education` found out that Belugha Girls Secondary School was nonexistent.
Nguma said they were also writing to the DCI and the EACC to investigate the matter so that action is taken against the unlawful allocation of funds.
“Today, we had come to issue cheques worth Sh4.85 million to the beneficiaries and as we speak, we still have the cheques. Those who have still not received theirs can come for them. We retreated because the cheques could be destroyed,” he said.
Political adviser and acting chief of staff in the office of governor Nixon Mramba said there was Sh250,000 allocated to a nonexistent school.
He said the MCA during the first meeting brought documents showing there was a school called Belugha Girls Secondary School, but after investigation, it was established there was none.
Mramba said they want to know the exact location of the school.
Renson Thoya, a director of Springhill High School, thanked the county government for issuing the bursary cheques as they had lost hope of getting them.
