Sh6bn classrooms scandal rocks Education ministry

Education ministry officials are on the spot on charges of bungling classrooms projects in primary and secondary schools.

A new audit has cast doubt taxpayers got value for money in the Sh6.7 billion spent by the ministry on the construction works.

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has in a review of the World Bank-funded project’s accounts cited the managers for breaking the law.

“Full value for money may not have been realised from expenditure on the construction contracts valued at Sh6,655,812,555,” she said.

Gathungu has in the review questioned a spending of Sh60 million on consultants supervising the works in the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project.

She said field visits in Laikipia, Baringo and Homa Bay established that the consultant did not have clerks of works at the project sites.

“The works were ongoing with no evidence of supervision. In the circumstances, the occurrence and accuracy of consultancy services expenditure of Sh60.3 million could not be confirmed,” Gathungu said.

Management, details show, signed agreements with 25 contractors to build 1,506 classrooms, 863 laboratories, and 1,932 sanitation facilities. 

The audit has cited poor workmanship in some of the projects which are at various stages in 30 select counties that had dire space constraints.

“Review of works done on the construction of laboratories for God Bura and Tonga Boys secondary schools in Homa Bay county revealed cracked and peeling off of the plastered floors,” the report reads.

Gathungu added, “The gas and water system had not been connected to the laboratories. Although the defects had been noted by the school administration and reported to the contractors, no remedial work had been done.”

The field visit further established that desks, chairs and laboratory chairs supplied to some of the schools were of substandard quality.

Similarly, some of the wooden furniture had splinters and grains and were thus rejected by schools.

The contractor was not on site at Marigat lntegrated Day Secondary School as at the time of audit visit.

“Further, the laboratory was incomplete as electrical wiring and water piping had been done while the floors and walls were cracked” Gathungu reported.

At the same time, 267 projects in three counties worth Sh344 million had stalled, with the review establishing that 23 per cent of the projects were incomplete.

Tana River county had 67 stalled projects, 186 in Kwale and 14 in Taita Taveta county.

“However, no satisfactory explanation has been provided for the stalling of the projects. There is also no evidence of liquidated damages having been claimed from the contractors while the performance bonds have expired exposing the project to funds loss,” Gathungu reported.

The projects status and progress report also indicated that 30 classrooms, 40 laboratories, four water projects and 471 sanitation blocks valued at Sh573 million had not been commenced as at June 30, 2024.

“No explanations were provided for the delay in commencement of the works. In addition, liquidated damages had not been levied by the employer.”

“Further, termination proceedings had not been commenced despite the contractor having abandoned the work for period exceeding 28 days without evidence of authorisation by the project manager,” Gathungu said.

The details have emerged at a time the government is under pressure to accommodate learners transitioning to Grade 9, and junior schools.

Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association chairman Johnson Nzioka told the Star on Friday that 85 per cent of schools were ready.

“According to reports by our members, the 15 per cent that are not ready have made internal arrangements to accommodate learners as they finish the classrooms,” he said.

Nzioka exuded confidence that most areas have classrooms ready and have also received books in the ration of one book per pupil.

Auditors established that projects under the extended contracts remained incomplete as of end of the financial year while the performance bonds for the contracts had expired without renewal.

The department is further on spot for not allowing schools to be part of the committee that approved the payments made so far.

Auditors established that a technical committee of three members was constituted to recommend payments for the 25 contractors.

However, the user department, specifically the schools, and the procurement function were not represented in the committee.

“There were no minutes of committee meetings and field inspection reports in support of payments.”

It has emerged that instead, the committee relied on the recommendations of the consultants to confirm the scope of works done in recommending the payments to the contractors.

Gathungu said the management broke Regulation 139( 3 ) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Regulations, 2020 which states that payments shall only be made after an invoice or fee note is accurately raised and submitted in accordance with the provisions of the contract.

There were also no projects status reports as prescribed by Regulation 138( 7 ) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Regulations, 2020, Gathungu noted.

The audit review also established there was no risk register prepared by the committee on the risks identified and their likely impact on the projects.