A lobby has given Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba a seven-day ultimatum to release the report on the verification of ghost students in public schools.
Through a letter by Ashioya Mogire and Nkatha Advocates, The Tunza Mtoto Coalition wants Ogamba to publish and avail to the public the complete verification report on the existence of ghost students in public schools, disclose the names and details of all implicated schools and the magnitude of enrollment discrepancies identified.
The Coalition also wants Ogamba to provide a comprehensive statement on the administrative, disciplinary, or criminal actions taken against any school heads, Ministry officials, or other individuals found complicit in the fraudulent scheme.
Further it wants Ogamba to outline concrete measures instituted to prevent a recurrence of such fraudulent practices in the management of capitation funds.
The Coalition further threatened to institute legal action by filing a petition if Ogamba fails to meet their demands.
“Take notice that, should you fail, neglect, or refuse to comply with this lawful demand within the stipulated period we shall upon our client’s instructions, institute appropriate legal proceedings, including but not limited to: filling a Constitutional Petition under Article 35 and the Access to Information Act to compel disclosure; and seeking orders to for accountability, recovery, and restitution of any misappropriated public funds in the public interest,” the letter read in part.
Appearing before the National Assembly Education Committee in September, Principal Secretary for Basic Education, Dr. Julius Bitok disclosed that, of the 12,000 schools sampled, approximately 50,000 ghost students were identified.
The verification exercise was also cited as the reason for the delay in the disbursement of capitation funds to public schools.
The lobby noted that with the recent disbursement of capitation money, the verification must have been completed.
“It is our client’s considered view that, with the recent release of capitation to schools, the verification exercise has since been concluded. Accordingly, the Ministry of Education bears a legal and constitutional obligation of transparency and accountability to make public the full findings of the verification exercise, pursuant to Article 35(1)(a) & (b) of the Constitution (Right of access to information), Article 10(2)(c) on national values and principles of governance, including transparency, accountability, and good governance; and Sections 4 and 5 of the Access to Information Act, No. 31 of 2016,” the lawyers said.
They argue that the revelations point to serious irregularities suggesting fraud, corruption, and potential loss of public funds.
This, they say, goes against principles of public finance management in the Constitution, the Public Finance Management Act, the Penal Code, and the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act.
