The Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) has been operating without the approval of Parliament, a committee ruled yesterday.

It also emerged that the authority did not forward the regulations to operate to Parliament as required by the law.

The Commission for University Education (CUE) and the Technical and Vocational Education Training Authority (TVETA) had complained that powers to certify qualifications are vested in them and not KNQA.

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And now the fight has spilled over to Parliament with members of the Public Investment Committee (PIC) accusing KNQA of adjudicating the role of recognizing academic papers obtained locally or abroad without the approval of Parliament.

Authority Director General Prof Juma Mukhwana was hard pressed by the committee chairman Abdulswamad Nassir to explain why his organisation was operating without the approval of Parliament.

“What concerns the committee is the fact that the authority has been operating without approval by Parliament, you know very well that that is illegal,” said Nassir.

TVETA overzealous But in response, Mukhwana told the committee that the authority was the only legally recognized body mandated to clear academic qualifications.

He said he would not respond to the question as to why the regulations were not forwarded to Parliament since that was the prerogative of the Cabinet Secretary.

Mukhwana said the whole issue was being engineered by TVETA, which wants to allocate themselves assignments which belong to others. “The TVET boss should be tamed.

He wants to be everything. The law is clear that we are the ones mandated to certify qualifications,” he charged. He accuse the TVET chief of being overzealous and unprofessional.

The new classes, according to Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha and his Interior counterpart, Fred Matiang’i, will accommodate learners transiting from primary to junior secondary schools.

Dr Matiang’i tasked officers to start preparing for the projects as the classrooms should be ready to accommodate learners by 2023.

“Start pushing teams in the sub-county to start preparations. This is not the time to start saying you are waiting for circulars. Rally the troops to start preparations early, because if we do not do that we shall fail,” said Matiang’i.

He, at the same time, directed Regional Commissioners to take action against chiefs who fail to do what is expected of them.

What this means is that every chief must spend their time on projects supporting the contractors and coordinating them to ensure the projects move on smoothly.

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Matiang’i also cautioned contractors against inflating the cost of projects. “It’s not that we have a huge capital outlay to achieve this project. We are operating on a small budget. Cost-effectiveness is very important,” he said. Each of the classes will cost about Sh800,000 and the overall target is 20,000 of them.

These new classrooms will since the CBC task-force report estimated that the government needs to create 37,000 new ones nationally to cater for the anticipated double intake of form ones.

The Cabinet Secretaries were addressing a multi-agency team comprising Regional Commissioners, County Commissioners, Regional Director of Education, and County Director of Education from the 47 counties yesterday at Kenya School of Government in Lower Kabete, Nairobi.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed the National Treasury to release Sh8.1 billion for the project. “We have delivered before, so we are not reinventing the wheel. The government will do whatever it takes to ensure the officers deliver the projects by April,” said Prof Magoha.

He instructed Education officers to identify contractors that are competent and have adequate manpower to do the work in a professional way.

The CS said contractors would be paid via mobile money to avoid giving the officers the burden of handling cash.

“Please make sure the contractors give the right personal information to avoid issues of delay in payment. During the desks project, we had a lot of delays. When you meet the contractors, ensure they are well briefed in such aspects so that we don’t have problems in wiring the money because this may delay this project,” he said.