CS Magoha: SH 1.3 Billion Paid to Suppliers of Desks to Schools
The Cabinet Secretary for Education, Prof George Magoha confirmed on Saturday, February 20, that the government has so far paid Ksh. 1.35 billion to Jua Kali artisans for supplying desks to schools across the country.
Prof Magoha was speaking at Raphael Wanjala Mundere Girls Secondary School located in Budalangi sub-county. He revealed that artisans had delivered 625,000 desks to learning institutions as they had been requested before schools reopened fully in January this year.
“The delivery of Ksh. 1.9 Billion desk program has performed extremely well,” said CS Magoha.
The government contracted thousands of Jua Kali artisans to supply desks through the Economic Stimulus Programme. However, their dues are yet to be paid despite artisans already having honored their end of the bargain.
According to the Cabinet Secretary, artisans of the regions of Nairobi, Nyanza, and the Central Regions have made 100% delivery.
He, however, noted that Turkana County artisans were left out of the consequence of late delivery because they were outsourcing the desks from other places.
Magoha also said that the delivered desk represented 95 percent of the contract, and expected the artisans to complete the remaining part by February 22.
The government will pay the artisans via M-PESA as the government intends to eliminate bureaucracy and prevent theft of public funds.
Besides, Magoha added that the government shall do an audit immediately after the transactions are completed to ascertain whether all the artisans were paid or not.
The Jua Kali artisans had started worrying that the government would keep delaying the payment. They were also concerned that they may not be able to buy more stock.
One artisan, Tom (not his real name) revealed that he was pleased that he was happy that the government was still on track to honor their promise and hoped that he would receive the payment in a couple of days or so.
“I delivered my last delivery a fortnight ago…the school gave me a delivery acknowledged the letter. This is good news to us all artisans. We thank the government for this,” Jackson said.
The CS urged parents with children still at home to make sure they return to school and warned them that education officers will keep tracing them till they are all found and returned to school to continue learning.
[…] CS Magoha: SH 1.3 Billion Paid to Suppliers of Desks to Schools […]
[…] CS Magoha: SH 1.3 Billion Paid to Suppliers of Desks to Schools […]