Bursary scam: How Bungoma County govt paid over Ksh.19M for ghost students
A mega scandal running into hundreds of millions
of shillings is brewing in Bungoma County, a task-force report has revealed.
The task-force formed two months ago by
Governor Ken Lusaka to audit the implementation of the Education Scholarship Fund
started in 2018 revealed massive irregularities with cases of ghost students,
overpayments to schools and many undeserving students benefiting while the
needy were left out.
The audit carried out on 46 out 522
benefiting schools lifted the lid on alleged irregular dealings. In six of the
schools sampled, 524 ghost students had benefited from the Ksh.35, 000 scholarship,
resulting in the possible loss of more than Ksh.19 million from the fund
established by the previous administration in 2018.
Kibabii High School, for instance, had 521
students on record yet the actual number was 409; showing a 119 difference,
with each allocated Ksh.35,000 as bursary; the fate of the Ksh.4.1 million
disbursed remains unknown.
The scenario is replicated at Teremi High School
which also received Ksh.3.9 million for 113 ghost students.
At Kapsokwony Boys, the story remains the
same; 62 ghost students received Ksh.2.1 million.
“Wale ambao
watapatikana kuwa wamehusika watabeba msalaba wao, na mimi sionei mtu. Hii ni
report imetoka sababu jopo lilienda wakahesabu watoto wakapata shule kama
Kibabii watoto 119 hawako,” said Governor Lusaka.
The report also shows that there was flawed
identification of beneficiaries of the fund where undeserving cases were
awarded scholarships and deserving cases denied.
The original list of beneficiaries had also
been tampered with, further findings indicating that 7 students had been
transferred but their former schools continued to receive funds.
It was also established that the county
continued to pay fees for 18 students whose parents had paid their fees in full,
and 11 others whose fees had been fully paid by other sponsors.
Governor Lusaka
added: “Hii yote ikifanywa utapata kwamba pesa mingi imepotea na hizi pesa zingesaidia
watoto hawajiwezi. Report inaonyesha kuna watoto wa watu wanajiweza wamelipa
watu wanafanya kaunti wanaendesha magari, hiyo mambo hatutakubali.”
Additionally, during the head count of
beneficiaries, a high number of students could not be traced and in some
instances the schools were not even aware of their existence.
The report stated that 62, 17 and 39 students
in Chebukaka Girls Secondary School, Chesamisi Boys and Kibuk Girls High School
respectively were untraceable.
The Governor was alarmed by the revelation
that monies were paid using cheques instead of IFMIS, making it prone to abuse.
“Tutafanya hiyo
ripoti yote ili tujue pesa ya Bungoma imeenda na nani, we must recover that
money ili watu wa Bungoma wapate value for money,” stated Lusaka.
An audit of pending bills detected more
malpractices including payment of ghost projects, illegal variation of
contracts and selective payment of pending bills among others.
“The committee identified
payments made for non-existent projects, claims were not supported by valid
documentary evidence, case in point there was payment of six roads supported by
the same set of photographs as evidence,” said the county boss.
The taskforce also audited the human resource
and found that in some departments, a number of unqualified people had been
employed.
The Governor now wants the Ethics and
Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate the reports and institute action
on those linked to the multi-million corruption ring.
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