A parliamentary committee has raised concerns over the misuse of Sh720 million allocated to government-sponsored students in private universities. It has emerged that some of the funds were paid to students who were not placed by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS).
During a session before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly, it was revealed that several private universities that received the capitation funds failed to provide data to Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu on the students who benefited from the government funding.
Accountability Issues Higher Education Principal Secretary Dr. Beatrice Inyangala defended the expenditures, blaming the Office of the Auditor-General for relying on unverified data. But she couldn’t explain the discrepancies.
Dr. Inyangala said an analysis by the Universities Fund showed that the students in question were placed by KUCCPS, but she didn’t provide the documents to support her claim. She said the University Fund validates student placements with KUCCPS before preparing apportionment schedules for disbursement.
The PS also said the Office of the Auditor-General relied on initial placement data without accounting for subsequent transfers between public and private universities. But she admitted some students had overstayed in universities due to financial constraints, leading to delayed graduation and class repetitions.
Auditor-General’s Report Findings The Auditor-General’s report on the accounts of the State Department for Higher Education for the 2022/23 financial year raised several red flags:
- Sh201.64 million was paid to 15 private universities for 4,521 students who were not placed by KUCCPS.
- Sh421.73 million was allocated to 9,489 students who had exceeded their course duration.
- Sh17.8 million in double payments for capitation funds.
- Sh35.2 million paid to students who had already graduated.
- Sh53.6 million allocated to students who had deferred their studies or were on long academic leave.
Government Prioritization in Question The committee members, including MPs Nabii Nabwera (Lugari), Joseph Emathe (Turkana Central) and Geoffrey Ruku (Mbeere North) asked why the government is prioritizing funding for private universities when many public universities are struggling financially.“You are funding private universities at the expense of public universities. Why?” Mr. Nabwera asked, saying financing students who had deferred their studies was a waste of public funds.
Mr. Emathe said public universities were struggling because of government’s bias towards private universities. Mr. Ruku said public funds were being paid to private universities for profit without any remittances to the exchequer.
Auditor-General’s and University Fund’s Reports Inconsistencies Dr. Inyangala agreed with some of the Auditor-General’s findings, particularly on students who had overstayed in universities. But she said an independent analysis by the Universities Fund showed 5,154 students had exceeded their study periods and were allocated Sh183.8 million.