House team questions millions public schools pay to KESSHA

A parliamentary committee has resolved to summon Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) officials to shed light on how millions of shillings contributed by public secondary schools are spent.

The National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education, chaired by Luanda MP Dick Maungu, now wants KESSHA to account for funds received from schools following an auditor’s report that flagged direct payments to the association as irregular.

The issue emerged when it retreated to examine the Auditor-General’s reports for selected high schools for the Financial Years2020/21 to 2024/25.

Maungu said the committee was concerned that KESSHA is a private members’ organisation yet receives money from public institutions.

He also noted that the figures raise fundamental questions about the legal basis of the payments and whether the money could be subjected to public scrutiny once transferred to KESSHA.

“What is coming out clearly is that most of these schools contribute money to an organisation known as KESSHA. This is a club, or rather a welfare group for principals of high schools. For example, the first school we examined had about Sh6 million paid to KESSHA, while another had about Sh5 million paid to KESSHA,” Maungu noted.

According to the committee, it would amount to billions of shillings if all schools in the country were analysed, hence the need to summon KESSHA leadership to explain its status, operations and use of funds received from schools.

“We want to find out whether KESSHA is a recipient of public money and whether the activities they are undertaking are audited by the Auditor-General. That is an issue we want to dig deeper into. We want to find out under what entity they are operating and why a private members’ club should enjoy public money,” he said.

The MPs' concerns centred on whether money collected and controlled by public schools retains its character as public funds after being transferred to KESSHA, and whether such expenditure can be subjected to the same accountability requirements as other public spending.

Among the principals and senior managers who appeared before the committee were Maseno School, Ng’iya Girls High School, Bunyore Girls High School, Maranda Boys High School, Kisumu Girls High School and Chavakali High School, among others.

Others were Kanga High School, Orero Boys High School, Asumbi Girls High School, Nyabururu Girls High School, Homa Bay High School and Kisii School.

For instance, an audit of Asumbi Girls High School was a point of scrutiny for the committee, as the Auditor-General’s report for the year ended June 2024 showed that the school transferred Sh1.247 million to KESSHA during the financial year.

The Auditor-General questioned the payment, noting that KESSHA is a welfare organisation whose membership is drawn from school principals and not defined within the Government funding system.

Similarly, the auditor said there was no assurance that KESSHA had effective, efficient and transparent financial management and internal control systems for managing funds transferred by schools.

“The payment was contrary to Regulation 23(2)(c) of the Public Finance Management (National Government) Regulations, 2015, which requires an accounting officer to obtain written assurance from an entity before transferring funds to it that the entity will maintain effective, efficient and transparent financial management and internal control systems,” the report states.

To this end, the auditor found the management in breach of the law, and the value for money realised from the expenditure of Sh1.2 million could not be confirmed.

But Asumbi Girls Chief Principal Linet Pino Sati explained that the money was used to finance co-curricular activities, adding that KESSHA regularly sends requests to schools to contribute towards budgets for co-curricular activities and the school was not an exception.

“The funds transferred to KESSHA are for conducting co-curricular activities. Each year KESSHA sends requests to schools for funding the budget for co-curricular activities and Asumbi Girls High School is not exempted,” Ms Sati said.

The principal said the school hoped the Ministry of Education would provide clear guidance on how schools should participate in co-curricular activities or establish a formal mechanism allowing schools to transfer public funds to KESSHA.

She said contributions are generally calculated according to student enrolment, meaning schools with larger populations pay more.

The explanation reinforced a concern raised by the committee over whether public schools have a lawful mechanism for transferring money to KESSHA.

But the heads of schools who appeared before the committee defended the payments, saying they were made in good faith to support students’ co-curricular activities and other programmes.

Maseno School principal Peter Owino Otieno said the contributions were not meant for the personal benefit of principals but were tied to student welfare and participation in activities.

“The payments were purely for student welfare and co-curricular activities,” Owino said.

He also explained that schools were expected to pay annual subscriptions to KESSHA; failure to do so could prevent their students from participating in sports, drama, music and other regional and national competitions.

“Most of those contributions go towards activities that are coordinated within the education system. At the end of the day, they are for the support of the children,” he insisted.

Owino acknowledged that the Auditor-General has raised a valid concern over the manner in which the funds were transferred, noting that KESSHA officials are better placed to explain.

“If you invite the chairman of KESSHA, he should be able to tell you that most of those contributions go towards activities that are being coordinated,” Mr Owino said.

The concerns were echoed by Nyabururu Girls High School Principal Joyce Orioki, who explained that KESSHA also plays a role in coordinating activities at the grassroots and zonal levels before the Ministry of Education takes over.

She said principals and ministry officials sit to prepare common budgets for such activities, with contributions based on the number of students in each school.

Kiminini MP Maurice Kakai Bisau described KESSHA as a private club bringing together school heads and questioned why public schools should transfer funds to an organisation outside the formal government structure.

“KESSHA remains a private club managed by members of the teaching fraternity. In the absence of it being formalised, we still look at it as a private members’ organisation,” Bisau stated.

“It is something we need to interrogate because we cannot have funds being sent from public schools to an organisation over which there is no proper public control,” he added.

His Lungalunga counterpart, Chiforomodo Mangale, noted that the committee first needs to establish the legal basis upon which schools were making the payments.

“We must start from the point of understanding how these funds are transferred. KESSHA is an association for teachers and school heads, but it has no direct relationship with the government,” Mangale said.

The committee’s concerns are reinforced by the provisions governing co-curricular activities under the Basic Education Act and the Basic Education Regulations, Legal Notice No. 39 of 2015.

According to Maungu, the regulations place responsibility for promoting co-curricular activities on the County Director of Education.

The regulations require the County Director to promote recreational and competitive sports, games, performing and creative arts, talent shows and congresses in basic education and training institutions.

On funding, the regulations provide that where government funding for a particular co-curricular activity is insufficient, the affected institution should notify the County Director of Education in writing of the deficit at least three months before the activity.

The County Director, in consultation with the County Education Board, is then required to consult the Cabinet Secretary on how the funding deficit should be addressed.

Maungu said these provisions raised questions about why schools were relying on KESSHA to collect and administer money for activities that fall within the formal education system.

“KESSHA therefore becomes an amorphous body. The committee is not questioning the value of activities supported by the association but the legality and accountability of the funding mechanism. Education activities are necessary, but that does not mean public funds can be transferred outside the framework of the law,” he said.

The outcome of their deliberations is expected to determine whether schools’ contributions to KESSHA are allowed to continue, formalised under government policy or replaced with a mechanism through which funds for co-curricular activities are administered within the public education system.