Nairobi halts scholarship fund over fraud cases

The Nairobi City County Scholarship Fund has been suspended. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The fund aims at taking students from disadvantaged backgrounds through secondary school.
  • No more funds will be disbursed until the audit is completed and the loopholes sealed.

Emmaculate Mumbi dreamt of becoming a lawyer, but was afraid that her parents’ modest means might make it hard to achieve the dream.

But the dream was given impetus in 2016 when Nairobi County gave her a full secondary school scholarship.

Now hopes of the Form Three student at Brumvale Secondary School have turned to despair after the city administration suspended the Nairobi City County Scholarship Fund, pending the completion of an audit of the beneficiaries.

The County Executive Committee (CEC) member in charge of Education, Ms Muthoni Ouko, said the audit was prompted by rampant fraud.

“We have to make sure that the scholarships are going to the right children.

"We found that in some cases parents do not need help paying their children’s school fees. Even some county staff members have been benefitting from the scholarships,” Ms Ouko told the Nation.

SCHOOL FEES
She said no more funds will be disbursed until the audit is completed and the loopholes sealed, but gave no timelines.

Consequently, there is no money to pay school fees for students like Mumbi, forcing those who cannot make alternative arrangements or get transfers, out of school.

The fund, which was launched by former Governor Evans Kidero two years ago, aims at taking students from disadvantaged backgrounds through secondary school.

Emmaculate, who is among the fund’s 3,000 beneficiaries, was surprised that there are integrity questions surrounding the programme.

Securing the scholarship was rigorous.

APPROVAL

First, her public primary school teachers, who had interacted with her for several years, had to identify her as a bright girl from a needy background.

Then forms were sent to her parents to fill in — including information on their marital status, profession and monthly income — after which the information was verified by the church, as well as their area chief. Only after this did she qualify.

The beneficiaries’ parents have complained that they were not told that their children’s school fees would not be paid.

“Why didn’t they tell us earlier? We can’t even transfer our children to more affordable schools because that is another huge expense. Which school would release them with such a big balance?” Mary Kagai, a parent, lamented.

“We have been to the county offices looking for answers. They tell us that the CEC is away or that she will talk to us later but that never happens.

"Today, they finally told us that they will not handle the cases of students from Form Two onwards. That the programme has been stopped and we shouldn’t bother them again,” Frederick Baraza said.

LEARNING
During a protest by the parents and their children at City Hall on Thursday, Ms Ouko told them that children from financially able families would not be admitted back to the programme.

“We are currently in talks with the schools, asking principals to let the children learn. The fees can be paid later for deserving cases,” Ms Ouko said.

The parents said that until the beginning of the year, the county has been giving them promissory notes to take to the schools to allow their children to continue learning, until the money was paid towards the end of the term.

However, after the new county government came to power, the schools stopped accepting the notes.