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{
    "id": 711835,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/711835/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 92,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mukwe",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1641,
        "legal_name": "James Lusweti Mukwe",
        "slug": "james-lusweti-mukwe"
    },
    "content": "THAT, aware that Free Primary Education is an important milestone to economic and social development in the country; further aware that since the introduction of Free Primary Education (FPE) in 2002, the Government has spent huge amount of money on the programme; noting that the recent Report by the Ministry of Education submitted to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) indicated that the Government could be losing millions of capitation funds in public schools through inflated enrolment figures, fraudulent deals that include irregular allocation of funds, procurement of goods and questionable expenditure by headteachers; concerned that the spirit of FPE was to provide a chance to every student in the country to acquire free education, giving effect to Article 43(1)(f) of the Constitution; noting that most headteachers do not possess requisite financial management skills to proficiently handle FPE funds; this House urges that the Government, through County Education Boards to recruit School Bursars to ensure prudent utilization/management of FPE funds disbursed to various schools in the country. We all recall that from January 2003, primary education in Kenya was made free. All that was required was for a child, regardless of age, culture, religion, race or ethnic background to walk to a school next to where he or she lives in school uniform and start learning. The Report by the EACC indicates that teachers are not giving true figures on enrolment in schools. In so doing, funds meant for FPE are being misappropriated or embezzled. As a representative of Kabuchai Constituency, I want to take this opportunity to salute and appreciate the Government’s effort towards the implementation of this policy. As a result, other international organisations came in and supported this initiative in Kenya. The Government has continually increased its budgetary allocation to education each year as well as the introduction of Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) Bursary Fund. To date, the Government has released billions of money in order to sustain the FPE programme. Initially, each child was getting Kshs 120 per year. As at 2014, the Government increased FPE funds to Kshs1,420 for each child. That money was to be allocated to ten million children in about 23,000 public primary schools. As a result, it costs the Government of Kenya Kshs14 billion each year to finance the FPE. It is noted that the education sector in general continues to get a lion’s share of the country’s national budget every year. We have FPE funds and sometimes we, as elected Members of Parliament, really suffer because every time head teachers come to our offices asking for funding for collapsed toilets or roofs of classrooms when they have been blown off. It is very sad that sometimes when they are asked how they spend their money, they cannot explain. A school that has enrolled about 1,000 students multiplied by Kshs1,420 gets a lot of money. These schools also receive NG-CDF money. So, if head teachers manage the FPE and CDF money to run schools and also manage children, they are overburdened. The best way is to recruit or employ bursars to run school funds. This Motion is very important as it seeks to safeguard the public from losing money that has been set aside for a worthy cause. It is saddening to learn from a report by EACC titled Examination Report into the Disbursement and Utilisation of FreePrimary Education Fund that some primary school head teachers and teachers are The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}