The Government of Kenya has been asked to investigate cases regarding Sh. 3.7 billion that the Ministry of Education may have spent on schools that do not exist.
The Salvation Army, a Christian Church, and a global charitable organization have implored the government to conduct an audit to find out if indeed officials from the Ministry of Education channeled funds to ghost secondary schools.
Stephen Chepkirui, the territorial commander of the church, led the group that wanted the government to also act to curb the increasing number of schools that are flouting the regulations.
“The government has to develop policies to ensure that all loopholes used to steal public funds are sealed. They should also control the establishment of schools to ensure that only those that meet standards are allowed to operate,” he said.
Chepkirui revealed this while attending the commissioning of new classrooms at Makhwabuye on Thursday, where the church has constructed classrooms, boreholes, toilets and purchased desks and lockers for several schools in the area.
It has been revealed that many buildings in the schools have been developing cracks, more so because of the blasting of rocks going on the nearby quarries.
“All education stakeholders, including parents and sponsors of the various schools, must join hands to ensure that money that is meant for the development of schools is used for the intended purposes. We need to know how billions, in taxpayers’ money, was given to schools that do not exist,” he added.
The Auditor-General Nancy Gathangu cited the allegations in a report that was released on Wednesday. The inflation of the numbers of students and the creation of schools that are non-existent are some of the vices reported.
These People, the Auditor-General’s report indicates that they could be working alongside some criminal officials in the education sector to steal funds and resources belonging to the government.
According to the report, the payments were also made twice to some schools in a plot to siphon even more money.
The Ministry of Education released an audit report last year revealing how the government lost millions of shillings in a plot that inflated the number of primary school children by 529,997.
Members of Parliament have been at the battlefront in asking for hastened investigations after the theft of public funds was discovered in Kakamega.
Justus Kizito, the MP to Shinyalu constituency, led Kwale County Woman Representative Zuleikha Hassan and Mathare North’s Anthony Oluoch, in pushing the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate and arrest the suspects involved in the stealing of public funds.
“What surprises us is not the money lost, we are concerned about the silence of the investigative and prosecutorial agencies. Someone created these, wired, and collected money from these ghost schools,” said Kizito.
In the year 2018, Mundeku Secondary School was one of the fake schools in the Ministry records. Belgut Kaptugen Starehe Boys in Belgut Sub-County, Kericho County (152 students), Ikonge DEB in Kisii Central, Kisii County (448 students), and Dol Dol Boys in Laikipia North, Laikipia County (64 students) are among those that were identified as bogus.