Council of Governors slams Mbadi over school capitation

The Council of Governors has taken a swipe at National Treasury CS John Mbadi over claims that the government is unable to fund free education.

The Council’s Chief Executive Officer Mary Mwiti said it was unwise for the CS to utter such remarks that put the lives of many vulnerable and poor children at risk.

Speaking at their Delta Offices, Ms Mwiti said education remains the only equalizer that has brought pride to many families.

Her remarks come after it was revealed that parents might soon pay fees for their children as emerged that the billions of shillings allocated for free education was being spent on ghost schools.

Mbadi in his exposé disclosed a sharp cut in capitation for secondary schools, from Sh22,244 to Sh16,900 per learner, citing fiscal constraints.

According to the CS, Kenya has been living a lie in the promise to provide free education arguing that the government is no longer able to sustain free primary and secondary education.

This, he explained, is due to the huge debt obligations the country is expected to meet each year that has shrinked funds available for other functions among them school funding.

A heated exchange erupted in Parliament as MPs fingered the Ministry of Education for overseeing the misappropriation of funds meant to go to schools.

Mbadi and his education counterpart, Julius Ogamba were hard pressed to explain how ghost schools are funded and the inconsistencies in school funding.

The scandal casts a harsh light on the school financial mess, where ghost institutions thrive while public schools collapse under pressure from underfunding, pending bills, and unpaid staff.

The MPs questioned the government's priorities, and how the Ministry of Education funded institutions that are non-existent got funding and those under who facilitated the transaction.

MPs further sought answers from Mbadi over inconsistencies in school funding, with legislators accusing the government of misleading Kenyans on the true state of capitation—even as billions are reportedly lost to ghost schools.

CS Ogamba, struggled to explain how these allocations were approved, with MPs demanding a full audit of all schools receiving state funding.

“Before the funds are transferred, someone has to sign off for the transaction, that is a good place to start the investigation on who is responsible for funding the non-existent schools,” Ogamba said.

And for the first time, the Education Ministry revealed that they are in no position to truly ascertain the number of students in schools and even the real number of public schools in the country, thus opening the floodgates for misappropriation.

However, Mbadi argued that the government is no longer able to sustain free primary and secondary education.

“The budget cannot support the Sh22,000. And you know, it is Parliament that passes the budget. And you can take the figures and calculate. I say, you see the problem is we live a lie,” Mbadi said.

But the Council of Governors said the national government cannot then pride and boast of equity when education which is the only equalizer cannot be provided.

“This as sad as it may look brings a sharp focus on the place of devolution for this government. The Education Ministry which receives over Sh702 billion budgetary allocation cannot mean to say it has problems meeting the school capitation when all the 47 counties get a lamp sum allocation of Sh415 billion from the Sh4.2 trillion budget,” said Ms Mwiti.

She said the county governments have about 14 function they have to finance including payment of ECD teachers yet the Ministry of education only finances capitation and teacher salaries through TSC.

When a whole CS stands and says the government cannot sustain free education then what is be left for the poor and vulnerable children? she posed.

Ms Mwiti maintained that in the tenants of the constitution that guarantees equity and inclusion, education must be availed freely to all the citizens.