Pressure is mounting on the Ministry of Education to disclose the names of schools implicated in the 50,000 ghost learners scandal that it revealed in September.
A lobby group has given Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba seven days to disclose the names and details of all implicated schools and the magnitude of enrolment discrepancies identified.
Tunza Mtoto Coalition, through Ashioya Mogire and Nkatha Advocates, is demanding that the ministry publish and make available to the public the complete verification report on the existence of ghost students in public schools.
The revelation raised questions over the integrity of government records and educational institution funding, exposing taxpayers to potential losses amounting to billions of shillings.
At the approved funding rate of Sh22,244 per learner per year, this equates to an annual loss of Sh1.1 billion. Moreover, it is unclear how long the inflated numbers have been present in government systems.
Last month, CS Ogamba said at least 29 schools have not received capitation from the ministry over registration queries following an audit targeting ghost schools and learners in public schools across the country without giving names and further details.
“The disclosure by Dr Bitok points to serious irregularities suggestive of fraud, corruption, and potential loss of public funds, contrary to the principles of public finance management enshrined in the Constitution,” reads the demand letter.
“Accordingly, the Ministry of Education bears a legal and constitutional obligation of transparency and accountability to make public the full findings of the verification exercise,” added the letter.
PS Bitok, while appearing before the Education committee of the National Assembly in September, said the ministry had just sampled 12,000 schools.
Further, he pointed out that the verification exercise was cited as the reason for the delay in the disbursement of capitation funds to public schools.
“It is our client’s considered view that, with the recent release of capitation to schools, the verification exercise has since been concluded.”
The lobby group now wants the ministry to provide a comprehensive statement on the administrative, disciplinary, or criminal actions taken against any school heads, ministry officials, or other individuals found complicit in the fraudulent scheme.
Further, they want the ministry to outline concrete measures instituted to prevent a recurrence of such fraudulent practices in the management of capitation funds.
The lobby group has threatened to file a petition under Article 35 and the Access to Information Act to compel disclosure as well as seek orders for accountability, recovery, and restitution of any misappropriated public funds in the public interest.
“Take notice that should you fail, neglect, or refuse to comply with this lawful demand within the stipulated period, we shall, upon our client’s instructions, institute appropriate legal proceedings,” reads the letter.
Inflated enrolment data is most prevalent in secondary schools and the PS said once the verification process is complete and the ghost students and schools are weeded out, the total number of learners in educational institutions might decrease by 10 percent.
He explained that the nationwide clean-up exercise, which covers about 32,000 schools, is nearly 60 percent complete.
Members of Parliament and education stakeholders are demanding that officials and school heads implicated in the fraud be held accountable and prosecuted. The ministry intends to subject those found responsible to public service disciplinary procedures.
This is not the first time such an issue has arisen; a similar scandal involving 500,000 "ghost" pupils in primary schools was revealed in 2020 by the late Education minister George Magoha.
In September this year, the government tightened its grip on the disbursement of capitation funds to basic learning institutions across the country to curb the loss of billions of shillings to ghost schools and students.
This follows a special audit by the Office of the Auditor General, which exposed massive fraud in the sector. The audit revealed that 33 non-existent schools had received billions of shillings in the past four years.
To weed out ghost schools and learners, the ministry rolled out strict measures that all public schools must comply with before receiving capitation funds.
These include undertaking a rigorous validation process to confirm that each school is formally registered by the relevant county education board, the Teachers Service Commission has posted a substantive principal to the institution and an appointment letter for the school principal.
This is in addition to the requirement of a forwarding letter from the sub-county director of education, introduction of assessment numbers and index numbers as alternative learner identifiers to complement the existing Unique Personal Identifier.
