Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o now says governors misunderstood her circular on the issuance of bursaries and scholarships by county governments.
In an interview with the Star, she advised county bosses on the procedure and requirements for supporting needy cases.
“I told them if you are giving education support, you need to have a plan and policy guiding the choice of beneficiaries and ensure you achieve the intended purpose,” Nyakang’o said.
She said she did not bar governors from providing ‘social economic support’ to needy students.
“If somebody is giving social economic support, they are free to do that, but they must provide a criterion or method of how to do it. I did not say they should not give bursaries,” the CoB said.
Governors have been up in arms over the circular dated January 14 and attacked the CoB for threatening to scuttle education of thousands of poor students currently supported by county bursaries.
In the circular to all finance executives, Nyakang’o said any requisition for the withdrawal of funds to perform functions under the national government must be accompanied by an intergovernmental agreement.
She said for county governments to offer educational support towards national government functions, there is a need to transfer the function.
However, the governors opposed the circular and questioned the motive to ‘ban’ the devolved units from administering bursary funds for post-nursery students.
CoG vice chairperson and Nyeri Governor Mutai Kahiga asked Nyakang’o to come clean on her latest directive, saying it is not genuine.
Education committee chairman at the CoG Erick Mutai urged counties to continue issuing bursaries and scholarships to needy students, threatening to challenge the legality of the circular in court.
“This has been necessitated by failure of the national government to offer free and compulsory basic education for all Kenyans as envisioned in the constitution,” Mutai said.
The Kericho governor said the council will engage the presidency to mitigate the issue and ensure the county bursary and scholarship programmes are not affected.
“The CoG will develop a unified framework for the management of scholarships and bursaries by the county governments. This will ensure minimum standards are set to make sure the most vulnerable benefit and countries demonstrate the impact of their investment in their communities,” he said.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said
Nyakang’o’s move threatens to halt county government bursary programmes,
warning that the move could disrupt education of thousands.
