Uhuru on the spot over free education funds

Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta was on Wednesday challenged to tell Kenyans where money for free schooling had gone.

The Narc Kenya secretary-general, Mr Danson Mungatana, said conflicting statements from the permanent secretary for Education, Prof Karega Mutahi, and his Finance counterpart, Mr Joseph Kinyua, were confusing the public and parents.

He said that while the Education PS said the money was diverted to buy maize following the food shortage, Mr Kinyua maintained that there was money. Mr Mungatana said Parliament had given the government a guarantee to borrow US$ 100 million and therefore the fund for free education could not have been diverted.

“The PS (Education) is on record to have stated that the money was diverted to buy food, a statement contradicted by his Finance counterpart,” he said. “Who is fooling who in this saga? Where is the money?” Mr Mungatana asked.

It was reported on Wednesday that some schools had started sending learners home as the crisis over free education funds continued to bite. The reports from Rift Valley came as the government tried to fend off bitter criticism over its failure to disburse funds for the first term.

Prof Mutahi could still not say when the funds, now delayed for three months, would be released even as Nation reliably learnt that the cash was not immediately available.

Secondary school heads and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) urged the government to release the funds immediately or spell out alternative ways of running schools.

Knut secretary-general Lawrence Majali accused the government of neglecting education, saying there were other less important sectors whose funds could have been diverted to buy food. Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chairman Cleophas Tirop said day schools would be the hardest hit.

On Monday, Prof Mutahi announced that further delays should be expected in the disbursement of at least Sh10 billion for the first term “because more than Sh37 billion has been spent in purchasing food”.