Office of Auditor General reveals Ksh16M sent to non-existent schools

The Office of the Auditor General has uncovered that at least Ksh16.6 million in capitation funds was irregularly disbursed to 14 non-existent schools across the country.

Appearing before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Director in charge of Audit at the Office of the Auditor General, Justus Okumu, said the schools could not be traced on the ground during physical verification. He told the lawmakers that the county directors of education were unaware of the institutions’ existence.

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“These schools exist only on paper and in the banking system. When we visited the listed locations, there was no infrastructure or evidence of operations,” Okumu said.

The audit, covering financial years 2021 to 2024, further revealed that six other schools that had ceased operations continued to receive funding, amounting to Ksh 889,348.

The committee also heard that the Ministry of Education failed to equitably allocate funds to public learning institutions. According to the report, public secondary schools were underfunded by Ksh71 billion, junior secondary by Ksh39.9 billion, and primary schools by Ksh14 billion, bringing the total deficit to Ksh117 billion.

The National Education Management Information System (NEMIS), meant to track enrollment and ensure proper allocation of resources, was sharply criticised. Okumu said the system is plagued by data inconsistencies, contributing to both overfunding and underfunding of schools.

In some instances, schools with inflated student numbers received excess funds, while genuine institutions were sidelined. The audit found that 354 secondary schools were overfunded by Ksh3.5 billion, while 99 junior secondary and 270 primary schools received an extra Ksh110 million combined.

Lawmakers slammed the education ministry for the discrepancies, calling for immediate reforms to NEMIS.

Funyula MP Oundo Mudenyo questioned how ghost schools received funding, saying, “We must know which public officer pressed the button to send millions to non-existent schools.”

PAC Chairperson Tindi Mwale confirmed that the ministry will be summoned to explain the irregularities in detail.

“We are treating this as a priority issue. The accounting officer must appear before us to account for these gaps,” Mwale said.