MOE officials Siphon Government Money Through A ghost school
It has been revealed that a section of former officials of the Education ministry allegedly created a ghost school and inflated enrolment numbers to siphon Sh114 million.
Speaking at parliament buildings, three legislators; Antony Oluoch (Mathare), Justus Kizito (Sinyalu) and Hassan Zuleikha (Kwale) said the government should investigate these architects and take a stern action against them.
The scandal was unearthed by a recent Public Accounts Committee report.
According to the 2017-2018 report,a clerical officer at the Directorate of Education in Kakamega, identified as Joshua Ocharo Momanyi created an imaginary Mundeku Secondary School which received over Sh11 million from the ministry.
Another officer inflated enrolment figures in the ministry system for several schools, resulting in an overpayment of Sh103 million to 150 schools.
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The lawmakers criticised the investigative agencies and the public prosecutor for sleeping on the job as Kenyans lose millions.
Kizito has insisted on action against the culprits, claiming that the Kakamega incident was but a tip of the iceberg of dubious schemes at the ministry.
“We want action. Everyone who has been in a position of decision-making in the periods where queries are emerging must be held to account no matter where they are today,” Kizito said.
“You cannot say an individual is the one doing all these. It is a racket and there should be an overhaul of the ministry. The racket is far and wide, we must uproot it.”
According to oluoch, the cartels have found loopholes in the infrastructure and capitation millions. He called for urgent intervention to smoke out all involved in the racket.
“This is just a case of one school discovered in Kakamega. How many more schools exist where public money is syphoned in ghosts schools and who are these shadowy people who have access this account, sign out this money and then the money is accounted for over the years as money given for capitation and infrastructure,” Oluoch said.
Zuleikha demanded full disclosure of all monies that have been given to the ministry for programmes like school feeding and sanitary pads. She said they have information about the misappropriation of the funds.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that a time hundreds of thousands of parents and their children are struggling to pay fees; when thousands of real and deserving schools are struggling to make ends meet; some Kenyans are enjoying monies that were meant for these parents, their children and the schools,” she said.
