Tale of two professors and missing millions

By Samuel Otieno, Joe Kiarie and Kenfrey Kiberenge

They are both professors with strong academic backgrounds. One is in his early 70s, the other mid 60s, having led successful careers.

But they have now been caught in a storm over missing free primary education (FPE) funds, with everyone demanding their resignation.

And this could be further complicated with fresh revelations that many more millions could have been lost under the schools’ computer programme.

One has come out in an attempt to clear his name of any wrongdoing while the other remains tight-lipped.

But whether Education Minister Prof Sam Ongeri and his Permanent Secretary Prof Karega Mutahi are culpable or not, the question is, what do they know?

Questions are also being asked why the Director of Basic Education, Mrs Leah Rotich, Chief Finance Officer Alice Ngichu, and Assistant Director of Education Mr Peter Mwaura, under whose watch the funds disappeared, have not stepped aside to pave way for investigations.

The minister and PS have also failed to explain why they suspended 26 officials from other directorates but none from basic education where the theft occurred.

Those suspended are from the secondary and quality assurance sections.

Interestingly, officers who were to grill the suspects were transferred to other ministries under suspicious circumstances, sparking allegations of cover-up from the top.

Bright start

Karega is credited with steering the FPE programme from scratch in 2003 and until The Standard reported in September that Sh1.3 billion meant for textbooks had been misused, the implementation had received sterling recognition globally.

A report by the UK Department for International Development (DfID) indicted primary school heads under whose watch 5.8 million books went missing.

The losses cover a period of six years (2003 to 2008), with an average cost of Sh226 per book.

A total of Sh45 billion has been sent to schools since the ambitious programme kicked off in 2003.

Principals who requested anonymity accused some officers from Quality Assurance and Standards Directorate of demanding bribes when FPE funds are disbursed to schools.

"They usually threaten principals who do not buy books from their bookshops at inflated prices that they will file a negative report and engineer their transfer and interdiction," said a principal.

Yesterday, it also emerged that the ministry has no clear guidelines for allocating infrastructure funds to schools.

Disbursements for other sections are clear, for instance, each child is allocated Sh1,020 per year, Sh650 for learning materials and Sh370 for operations. "But when it comes to infrastructure, some schools are given Sh2 million, others Sh200,000 or Sh3 million depending on the whims of the officers in charge," said the source.

Mwaura is the head of infrastructure in the directorate of basic education.

Also on the spot is Rotich, who is authorised to sign the Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE). Efforts to speak to her failed as she was said to be out of office the whole day.

Talk of foul play

Karega is on the spot as the chief executive of the ministry and signatory to all accounts.

Yesterday, suspended Director of Secondary Education, Mrs Concilia Ondiek, claimed she was punished for mistakes that did not happen in her department.

"I was in charge of secondary education but money was stolen at the basic education section, which has its overseers who should be questioned," said Ondiek.

It also emerged that funds from the Government and donors are usually placed in one pool under the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme before being disbursed to all the four directorates: Basic Education, Secondary Education, Quality Assurance and Standards headed by Mr Enos Oyaya and lastly Policy and Planning.

The funds are alleged to have been looted through phoney purchase of textbooks, disbursement of infrastructure money to schools and purchase of computers.

The British Government has already stopped funding FPE until the money stolen is recovered, and the culprits prosecuted.

Sources say a lot more is missing although the extent of the fraud cannot be readily determined.

Forensic investigations

"We will not disburse any money to fund FPE unless the Government provides good results in unearthing the truth behind the disappearance of over Sh100 million," said the head of the Department for International Development (DfID) Alistair Fernie.

"Donors back strong Government policies and systems and will not tolerate incompetence or negligence. We demand clear action for those involved and as donors we expect the money refunded to help build education."

President Kibaki ordered investigations by Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) into the scandal.

KACC announced it had evidence on the Sh103 million embezzled and had dispatched forensic investigators to Jogoo House.