NAIROBI, Kenya – Members of Parliament have ordered a special audit of the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS), citing widespread data inconsistencies and suspected manipulation that could be undermining the distribution of government capitation funds to public schools.
The National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee raised alarm over the integrity of NEMIS, which is used to track enrolment and determine funding for free primary and secondary education.
MPs said technical flaws, unreliable updates, and unauthorized access to the system have rendered it unfit for purpose—resulting in cases where thousands of learners reportedly “disappear” from school records overnight.
“You close school in the evening with 300 students, and by morning the system says 100,” said Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera, adding that long-standing complaints by schools have gone unanswered.
The committee, chaired by Butere MP Tindi Mwale, is now directing the Auditor General to conduct a comprehensive audit of NEMIS before the Ministry of Education fully transitions to a new system—the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS).
Lawmakers want clarity on the money spent, system development processes, user roles, and whether the software’s logs can be trusted.
“The Auditor General must go back and do a proper analysis—how much was spent, who did the upgrades, and whether the system logs are reliable. That’s in our report,” said Mwale.
Learner Data in Question
Disclosures by the State Department for Basic Education revealed that some schools had shared their system credentials with third parties—especially cybercafé operators—who, in some cases, deleted learners from the system after disputes over payment.
“We’ve seen cases where cybercafés remove students because they weren’t paid. Some deletions happen outside schools,” said Fredrick Muchumba, Director of KEMIS.
Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo questioned whether the Ministry of Education even has an accurate count of students currently enrolled in public schools.
“If NEMIS is our primary data source, it would seem the State Department does not know how many learners are in our schools,” he said.
The 2022/2023 Auditor General’s report had flagged NEMIS for failing to provide updated disbursement data, further casting doubt on the credibility of learner figures submitted by the Ministry.
Ministry Defends Numbers, Pushes for Upgrade
In response, Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok insisted the Ministry verifies its data monthly through both NEMIS and manual reports from county and sub-county offices.
According to Bitok, the Ministry currently accounts for 12.6 million learners—6.4 million in primary, 2.9 million in junior school, and 3.3 million in senior school.
He said the ongoing upgrade to KEMIS 4.0 was based on recommendations from the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms.
The revamped system, he noted, is being developed in partnership with the government’s ICT agency, CONSA, and will include identity verification and secure data management.
“We need a system that protects data from third-party interference,” said Muchumba. “That’s why we’re building KEMIS with stronger safeguards.”
Despite the Ministry’s assurances, MPs remain skeptical. Mathioya MP Edwin Mugo warned that without a system audit, transitioning to a new platform might simply carry forward existing problems.
“What was bought? What was updated? Who handles what? We must understand that before moving forward,” Mugo said.
