Inside the financial rot of top national schools

Mangu High School Principal Bernard Kingah before the National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Top national schools are facing scrutiny over the management of public funds, with audit reports exposing unauthorised levies, money spent without proper supporting documents and poor collection of fees owed by students.

The reports by the Auditor-General have flagged  multiple top-tier schools for flouting the Ministry of Education’s annual fee caps and collecting fees far above the Ministry of Education's approved mandatory annual cap of Sh53,580 per student under the guise of "Parents Association support programmes" or padded uniform costs.

Top institutions, fingered include schools like Alliance High School, Starehe Boys Centre, and Ngandu Girls, Limuru Girls, Loreto High School Limuru, Alliance Girls, Mang'u High School, and Kiambu High School.

The report also uncovered massive unsupported cash withdrawals by school heads, unapproved bank loans, non-functional procurement units, and highly suspect investments including Ngandu Girls High School investing Sh1.58 million only to yield a meager Sh5,381 return

Similarly, the audit revealed that public secondary schools are collectively funneling billions of shillings into the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA), a private members' welfare organization. For instance, Asumbi Girls High School was found to have transferred Sh1.247 million directly to KESSHA in a single financial year.

The reports also found that national schools are drowning in toxic debt due to uncollected fees.

The committee noted that some elite institutions are holding uncollected fee balances dating as far back as 2010 and 2015, crippling their current operational liquid cash.

In Mang’u High School, the Auditor-General questioned Sh55.9 million collected from parents under the Parents Association Support Programme.

Mang’u charged parents Sh46,082 per student for the programme, but the charge had not been approved by the Ministry of Education through the County Education Board.

The school was therefore found to have breached Government guidelines governing Free Day Secondary Education.

Mang’u also had Sh69.4 million owed to the school, including fees, KNEC-related payments and salary advances. Of this, Sh21.8 million had remained unpaid for more than a year.

The Auditor-General said the school could not demonstrate how much of the money could actually be recovered.

The school also transferred Sh2.8 million to the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA). The Auditor-General questioned the payment because KESSHA is a welfare organisation for school principals and is not part of the Government funding system.

The audit also exposed questions over Mang’u’s land. The school occupies about 210 acres, but complete ownership and the exact extent of the land could not be established.

About 0.7 hectares had also been encroached on by a neighbouring primary school, which had constructed eight CBC classrooms on the land.

There was also a mismatch between student numbers in the National Education Management Information System and the school’s records. NEMIS listed 8,237 students, against 8,210 in the school register, resulting in Sh98,535 in excess funding.

Similar financial problems were found at The Kenya High School.

The school spent Sh269.4 million on boarding and school activities, but auditors found Sh16.6 million in payments that lacked proper documents showing what had been bought and received.

The school did not provide inspection reports and Goods Received Notes for the payments, leaving the Auditor-General unable to establish whether the money had been properly spent.

The finding does not, however, establish that the money was stolen.

Kenya High also transferred Sh1.04 million to KESSHA, but the Auditor-General could not establish whether the school received value for the money.

At Lenana School, auditors raised questions over Sh40.9 million in unpaid bills.

The school reported that it owed suppliers Sh95.3 million, but could not provide documents to support Sh40.9 million of the amount.

Lenana also transferred Sh657,500 to KESSHA, with the Auditor-General again unable to establish what the school received in return.

The school faced an even bigger problem in collecting money owed by students.

Lenana was owed Sh221.9 million in student fees, of which Sh200.1 million had remained unpaid for more than a year.

The school had no clear policy for dealing with old fee arrears, leaving auditors unable to establish how much of the Sh221.9 million could actually be recovered.

The audit also raised concerns over two delayed projects — the Golf Greens and CBC classrooms — whose combined contract value was Sh33.35 million.

The school had paid Sh25.9 million by June 2025, but the projects had been delayed by between 15 and 32 months.

At Nairobi School, the institution had expected to receive Sh370.5 million during the year but collected only Sh263.5 million, leaving a Sh107 million gap.

Despite receiving less money than expected, the school spent Sh270.3 million, about Sh6.8 million more than it had received.

The Auditor-General warned that the shortage of money affected planned activities and could have affected services to learners.

Nairobi School was also owed Sh148.9 million, with Sh110.5 million unpaid for more than two years.

The school had Sh126.6 million in unpaid bills to suppliers and other creditors.

Its financial position also deteriorated sharply, moving from a Sh32.7 million surplus in 2022/23 to a Sh20.1 million deficit the following year and then a Sh50.8 million deficit in 2024/25.

At Pangani Girls, the school expected to receive Sh222.7 million but received only Sh203.8 million, leaving an Sh18.9 million shortfall.

The school nevertheless spent Sh179.3 million, leaving Sh24.5 million of the money received unspent.

The Auditor-General said this affected planned activities and may have affected service delivery.

Pangani also had major differences between the figures in its financial statements and the records used to support them.

For example, income from hiring its grounds and equipment as a KNEC marking centre was reported as Sh18 million, while another school record showed only Sh7.5 million — a difference of Sh10.5 million.

The school also transferred Sh761,700 to KESSHA, but the Auditor-General could not establish whether the payment delivered value to the school.