NAIROBI, Kenya – In a landmark development, the counties of Murang’a and Mandera have made history by becoming the first devolved units to officially take over the administration of student bursaries, following the signing of an Intergovernmental Partnership Agreement (IPA) with the Ministry of Education.
After the Controller of Budget (COB) stopped payouts, billions of shillings were frozen. However, the deal, which was signed at Jogoo House in Nairobi, transfers the bursary function from the national government to the two counties.
In the past, the COB had maintained that county governments shouldn’t be in charge of bursaries because they were a national function.
Julius Ogamba, cabinet secretary for education, praised the achievement as a major step towards better service delivery to students in need and functional decentralisation.
“Our commitment to bolster intergovernmental relations and guarantee that no child is left behind because of financial constraints is reflected in this agreement,” CS Ogamba stated.
Muranga County wins County Bursaries effort.Ministry of Education agrees to transfer scholarship functions to county and signs deal.CS Ogamba and PS Bitok signs deal today at Jogoo House. Thanks so much, Sirs. Millions of students to benefit.
The CS used the opportunity to thank the two county bosses on behalf of the Ministry of Education for ensuring the signing of the framework agreement, which will be able to release the resources through the bursaries to the students whom they support.
“As you heard, one county supports 50,000 students, another one 35,000 students, and when you multiply all these across the 47 counties, that is a very large number of students, of which if this was not done, they wouldn’t have benefitted from that bursary,” added CS Ogamba.
Why are more Kenyan students in dire need of bursaries
According to the CS, there are testimonies of students who have stated that without the support they have gotten through these bursaries, they wouldn’t have reached where they are.
“So, it is in our interest to ensure that we do everything possible to create an environment, create policies and have these policy agreements that allow county governments to work with the national government to ensure that services such as these bursaries for students like school feeding are made possible with the law,” explained the CS.
Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata welcomed the development.
“Murang’a County has been pushing for the signing of these documents so that our 50,000 students can benefit through our bursaries and continue with schooling because they are currently at home, but with this new development, they will be able to resume with their studies,” said the county boss.
Governor Kang’ata also lauded the CS and PS for agreeing to adhere to the presidential directive.
“Even when the president visited Murang’a, we alerted him about this problem,” he said.
The bursary system and its administration are expensive, wasteful, and often a conduit for corruption. I therefore propose that, to eliminate these issues, all the funds be left with the Ministry of Education to provide free education. ~ Sen. @DrBKhalwale #BungeLiveSEN.
The governor further confirmed that the county would withdraw a contempt of court case filed against Controller of Budget Dr. Agnes Nyakango over the bursary stalemate.
“This partnership ends a long-standing impasse and will now enable us to directly support students in our county without legal uncertainty,” said Governor Kang’ata.
How Mandera County supports bright but needy students
On his part, Mandera Governor Mohamed Adan Khalif also praised the breakthrough, stating that the move will enhance efficiency and accountability in bursary distribution across the region.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank the Ministry of Education for realising this because it has been a long journey as a county; we have been following up on this for about seven months now, and we are happy that this issue has concluded today,” stated the governor.
The county boss disclosed that in Mandera, under the ‘Elimu Kwa Wote’ Program, there are about 35,000 students in secondary schools who are benefiting from the program.
“We also have ward bursaries that support about 5,000 beneficiaries and tertiary and university students. So, with this for us in marginalised, we are focused on building our human capital development; that is why we invested over Sh460 million for the last three years, and we have had challenges for the last three months, and as we speak about Sh124 million are lying at COB waiting for her approval, and I believe with this compliance of law and constitution, then the monies will be disbursed to the beneficiaries,” explained Governor Khalif.
Meanwhile, CS Ogamba maintained that his ministry is ready and willing to work with the county governments and provide all the necessary support and the legal documentation that is required to enable them to meet the COB’s requirements to be supported by some of the functions that are done by the national government but of which they can support us.
“So, we are here, ready, and we shall be doing this with the rest of the 47 counties through the Council of Governors (CoG) and ensure that going forward, none of our students, none of our learners, suffer because we have not been able to organise ourselves and sign such collaborative partnership agreements between the two levels of government,” he explained.
The agreement sets a precedent for other counties seeking similar arrangements and marks a turning point in the evolving relationship between national and county governments in the education sector.
