MPs to grill school principals over alleged misuse of public funds

National school principals are set to face tough questioning from Members of Parliament over alleged misuse of public funds.

The summons, driven by alarming findings in Auditor General Nancy Gathungu's reports, marks the start of a comprehensive probe into financial misconduct across secondary schools in the country, aimed at tightening financial oversight in education.

The committee, chaired by Bumula Member of Parliament Jack Wamboka, revealed plans to first engage national school principals before extending the audit process to extra county and county schools.

“We want to pioneer the audit with national schools. We have agreed to start with them before moving to other institutions. Madam Auditor, please be assured that we will look at their books,” Wamboka said during a meeting with Gathungu.

Wamboka also requested that the Auditor General provide comprehensive audit reports for all national secondary schools, which will be part of a pilot programme.

Among the schools audited and expected to appear before the committee are Maranda High School, Nyamira Girls High School, Moi Girls High School, Sigor Girls High School, Chania Girls High School, St. Francis (Mang'u) High School, Friends Boys High School – Misikhu, Rigoma Girls Secondary School, Our Lady of Mercy - Rangenyo Girls Secondary School, and St. Mathias Busia High School.

During the meeting, the Committee chair called for the need for accountability, urging the Auditor to introduce a tracking mechanism for audit reports to ensure accountability.

He suggested that both parties countersign all submitted documents to prevent misuse by unscrupulous officials.

"We must track every report to avoid anyone evading accountability," Wamboka said.

Audits

Gathungu reported that her office has completed audits on over 450 schools out of the 9,000 required. The audits span various school categories, including national, extra-county, and sub-county institutions.

In previous years, the Auditor General’s assessments were limited to state departments within the Ministry of Education.

“The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has cultivated mutual working relations with the Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education by providing accurate, insightful, and timely audit reports to the Committee, as well as recommendations whose implementation we request the Committee to follow up,” Gathungu said.

The audits conducted by Gathungu’s office uncovered widespread financial irregularities, including unauthorised fee increases, questionable expenditures and unaccounted-for capitations and grants.

Some of the funds were meant for development projects at the schools. Additionally, concerns were raised over schools transferring money to the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KSSHA), a welfare organisation for school principals that is not covered under government funding regulations.

The audits, which cover financial years 2021, 2022 and parts of 2023, highlighted serious concerns about how school funds have been managed.

In an audit, for instance, Nyamira Girls was found to have levied an additional Sh8,725 per student for Board of Management (BOM) teachers, accumulating Sh19.2 million through irregular collections.

“Approvals from the ministry for the additional fees charged were not provided for audit review,” the auditor said.

In response, MPs threatened to impose sanctions on the principals, heads of accounting, and human resources managers involved. The penalties could include investigations by other agencies or even resolutions declaring the officials unfit for their roles.