Parliament has raised concerns over financial management in national schools, questioning how public institutions can have excess textbooks, millions of shillings in unpaid fees and large bank loans at the same time.
The National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education said it had uncovered weaknesses in the management of public resources as it examined Auditor-General reports covering the 2020/21 to 2024/25 financial years.
The committee, chaired by Luanda MP Dick Maungu, raised the concerns after questioning heads of several national schools during a retreat in Kisumu.
Among the schools whose officials appeared before the committee were Ng’iya Girls High School, Maseno School, Maranda Boys High School, Kisumu Girls High School and Chavakali Boys High School.
One of the key concerns was the distribution of textbooks, with the committee finding cases where schools had received hundreds of books beyond their requirements while institutions in marginalised areas continued to report shortages.
“We have seen a school that received 400 and 506 extra books,” Maungu told journalists after the proceedings.
The committee wants the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development to explain how books are allocated and whether the distribution is based on accurate enrolment data.
“The question is, when you receive extra numbers, does it mean there is a school somewhere that does not have books?” Maungu asked.
The chairman said the government needed to ensure that schools in areas such as Mandera and Turkana received adequate learning materials instead of allowing some institutions to receive more than they require.
“We expect KICD to have the right data to ensure that the books supplied are enough for the students who are there,” he said.
The committee also raised concerns over millions of shillings in outstanding school fees, some of which date back to 2010 and 2015.
Maungu said the arrears were creating difficulties for school administrators, who are expected to recover money owed to their institutions while complying with government directives against withholding students’ certificates because of unpaid fees.
“A matter came out that schools have millions of shillings which are collected, and you find some of them date back to 2015 or 2010,” he said.
The committee wants schools with long-standing arrears to prepare schedules and submit them to the Ministry of Education for consideration.
Maungu said some of the outstanding money was linked to delays in government capitation.
“Some of those receivables are due to capitation not being sent,” he said, urging the government to release funds to schools on time.
But it was school borrowing that raised perhaps the strongest concern from the committee.
Maungu cited Ng’iya Girls High School, which had previously obtained a bank loan of about Sh50 million for a project estimated to cost approximately Sh150 million.
He questioned how schools could take commercial loans without demonstrating that they had obtained the necessary approvals from the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury.
“The law is very clear. No principal can simply walk into a bank and take a facility. There should be approvals from the Ministry of Education and Treasury,” Maungu said.
Although the committee was informed that the Ng’iya Girls loan had since been cleared, the chairman warned that uncontrolled borrowing could expose public schools to serious financial problems.
“If you allow principals to keep borrowing money left, right and centre, we shall enter into a total mess,” he said.
The committee plans to make recommendations to Parliament on how borrowing by public schools should be regulated.
It also questioned procurement practices in national schools, saying some institutions were operating without qualified procurement officers despite being public entities subject to the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act.
Maungu said schools could not conduct procurement as though they were private institutions.
“The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act is very clear as to how public institutions must procure,” he said.
He called for national schools to have qualified procurement specialists to oversee the purchase of goods and services and ensure compliance with the law.
For smaller schools unable to employ full-time procurement officers, he suggested that the Ministry of Education could provide procurement support through its sub-county structures.
The committee said the findings would be included in a report to Parliament, together with recommendations aimed at tightening financial controls in public schools.
Maungu said the scrutiny marked a new level of parliamentary oversight of secondary schools, with the committee examining Auditor-General reports covering national schools.
“For the first time ever in this country, this committee will be taking on the books of high schools,” he said.
The committee has started with national schools, classified as C1 institutions, before moving to other categories of secondary schools.
Maungu said there are about 120 to 130 national schools, making them a manageable starting point for the exercise.
The inquiry puts school finances under renewed parliamentary scrutiny, with MPs now seeking answers on how learning materials are distributed, how long-standing debts are handled, how schools obtain loans and whether procurement rules are being followed.
The committee said its work was part of Parliament’s oversight mandate over public resources and implementation of recommendations contained in Auditor-General reports.
