'The most clueless PS in Education', Ichung'wah blasts Bitok over schools crisis

Speaking on the second day of the National Assembly Members’ Retreat in Naivasha, Ichung'wah highlighted the challenges facing the education sector, including the need for equitable deployment of resources across schools. 

He accused the PS of taking a nonchalant approach to the incidents, saying he had failed to visit schools to firsthand witness the challenges they face.

"Why would a school with 100 students have 28 teachers and the school next door has 600 students without teachers and you have a county director of education in that subcounty, those are the issues CS," he stated. 

"Because you and your PS, you have the most clueless PS in the Ministry of Education. He only sits in Nairobi and has no idea what is happening on the ground. Get out of your offices in Nairobi, go to the ground and deal with the problems there. Then challenge this House to get the Ksh.48 billion for you from the budget and we deal with the problem once and for all."

On the issue of school fees and lunch programs, Ichung'wah advised the Education CS, Migos Ogamba, to cap the limit via a Gazette Notice to deter school heads from overcharging students.

"You have danced around the issue of uniform and circular for school fees. We cannot legislate on fees. You can't put fees in a statute. What you do, tomorrow, CS go and gazette the school fees that ought to be there when you bring the Basic Education Amendment Bill, we will now be referring to the CS gazette, but we can't put school fees in a law," the lawmaker remarked. 

"The same thing with uniform and lunch programs, I told you that is the bedrock of corruption in schools. I'm referring to my constituency and these members will tell you it's the same in theirs. You'll find a school that charges Ksh.3,000 for lunch program, others charge Ksh.8,000, Ksh.9,000 and they're in the same locality."

In a cheeky response to Ichung'wah's outburst, PS Bitok posted a photo on his Facebook Page captioned 'On the ground! On call! On duty!'

"Education CS, why don't you pick your calls? I don't call you for anything personal. When I call you, I'm a representative of the people. You expect 350 MPs to camp in your office? Why don't you pick your calls? When I text you, you don't return my texts?" Gogo questioned. 

"How do you go to my Constituency to do a foundation stone without involving me?"

The lawmakers urged the Education officials to engage in practical solutions that would solve the challenges facing the sector.