Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has come under heavy criticism over the manner in which his administration has handled the issuance of executive bursaries to residents of Nairobi County. Sources at City Hall told The Weekly Vision how bursary forms are openly being sold to the highest bidder by officers in the education department.
The same source also added that education officials have for some time now been involved in the scam, denying needy students an opportunity to pursue a high school education. Governor Sakaja might not be aware of what is going on behind his back, but the source says all CECMs, Chief Officers, and Advisors were allocated several bursary forms, which they gave out to friends and relatives, then sold the forms to the highest bidders.
Sources told us that a number of forms were allocated to the political advisor, one William Ndung’u who gave them out to individuals in Governor Sakaja’s 2022 campaign team. He adds that Governor Sakaja also sent out a huge number of forms to selected church leaders, who gave them out to their members, whether they were in need or not.
Last week, a section of MCAs castigated the governor over the disbursement of executive bursaries, saying he should stop giving them out to churches and instead give them to needy students in informal settlements. Pressure is now mounting on the County Assembly Committee for Education to investigate the matter and ensure that needy students are the only beneficiaries.
The MCAs are also calling on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate and audit the list of beneficiaries because there is fraud in the criteria used in the whole bursary saga at City Hall. It is suspected that some of the beneficiaries are children of City Hall staff members and cronies of the current administration who acquired the bursaries through corruption.
