Nyandarua moves to protect bursary fund from 'mischief'

Nyandarua's national and county government shares of bursary money will now be disbursed from the same basket to prevent wastage.

County Commissioner Boaz Cherutich announced on Saturday that his office and Governor Francis Kimemia's had agreed on formation of a special team of national and county representatives to oversee distribution of the education fund.

“Kitties from the national government include those channelled through the Constituency Development Fund and from the children’s department," he said.

"But thousands of children from poor families do not benefit from the allocations due to mischief. I thank the governor for assenting to Bursary Bill, 2019, which paves the way for equal distribution of the funds."

MORE BENEFICIARIES

Governor Kimemia said harmonised disbursement of the money will see more children benefit.

“We are committed to ensuring no child from Nyandarua drops out of school for lack of school fees. We have had cases where children are admitted to national schools but join day secondary schools for lack of fees. This must come to an end.

"It's an initiative we introduced this year to ensure all children join the schools they were admitted to. Harmonised disbursement will enforce this resolve."

He said that in the last financial year, the county disbursed over Sh100 million, an amount he said his administration intends to increase by more than Sh20 million in the current fiscal year.

CERTIFICATES

In his address, Mr Cherutich directed secondary school principals to release the thousands of KCSE certificates still in their possession.

He said some heads have defied the government directive to unconditionally release the certificates to former students.

“Release of the documents is a government directive that must be followed. I direct principals to release the certificates so the owners can look for jobs and earn an honest living. You have no reason to detain the certificates."