School heads who cooked student numbers to siphon capitation funds are now in hot soup as the government moves to crack the whip following the shocking discovery of 50,000 ghost learners.
The revelations have caused concern in Parliament, with MPs demanding tough action on the culprits.
Education CS Julius Ogamba has revealed that heads of affected schools and sub-county directors will be held personally accountable.
He stressed that the matter will soon be handed over to investigative agencies. MPs, led by Education Committee chair Julius Melly, dismissed talk of reshuffling officers, demanding prosecutions instead.
“Once the audit is complete, the files will be handed over to investigative agencies,” he said.
Appearing before the National Assembly Education Committee, Basic Education PS Julius Bitok revealed that each learner receives Sh17,000 annually in capitation.
This means the inflated enrolments led to a loss of Sh850 million every year. With the racket estimated to have run for three years, taxpayers could have lost about Sh2.5 billion.
So far, the ministry has verified enrolments in 17,400 schools out of 32,000. The figures already expose the depth of the problem, with legislators warning that the numbers could double once the audit is complete, raising possible losses of up to Sh5 billion.
The scam has already paralyzed operations in more than 14,000 schools that have yet to receive their capitation as verification continues.
To seal the loophole, the ministry will soon introduce Maisha Namba, a unique number for every learner that will eventually become their national ID.
By Kenyans