The number of applicants in some schools including Lukume, Manda, Chevoso, Vashele, Mukhonje, Chebwai, Tumbeni, Shirugu and Tumbeni is dismal. Notable cases are in Vashele and Shirugu and Manda dropping in their allocations from Ksh.182, 000 to Ksh.62, 000, Ksh.196, 000 to Ksh 57,000 and Ksh.184, 000 to Ksh.27, 000 respectively due attributed to toxic politics from some politicians opposed to his leadership.“You can see that bad politics is affecting these schools allocations and definitely it will also affect their performance come the end of the year and that is why we are trying to shun bad politics”- Malava MP Malulu Injendi
By Andanje Wakhungu
Residents within Malava constituency, especially parents and guardians have been asked to shun the cheap political rhetoric currently bedevilling the allocation of the constituency development fund (CDF) and instead apply for bursaries. Some parents from interior parts of the constituency have been made to believe that the funds allocated are too little and cannot make a difference.
Malava MP Malulu Injendi told school principals to educate parents about the need of applying for bursaries and stop being misadvised by his political detractors. The MP was distributing cheques to school principals from within the constituency. “As you know I have been under a lot of criticism from my political opponents who have repeatedly lambasted my mode of allocating the constituency funds and they have managed to convince some parents that the amount being allocated per child is of no consequential value compared to the balance of fees they are supposed to pay, in the end, some of the parents have blindly heeded to the malicious and unfounded propaganda and withdrawn from applying for the funds not knowing that it is them who are still going to bear the brunt of paying for the whole school fees.”
The MP who sits in the parliamentary education committee confirmed that he was ready to fight the course and that no level of insults and criticism directed at him will stop him from supporting education programmes in the constituency. “I understand the importance of having an educated society and that is why I’m banking on you principals to ensure that the beneficiaries of these funds are in school learning, let us do this to serve our society well”.
The MP said the national government has been struggling to allocate funds due to the global hard economic times and hence the delays. He called on the electorates to support education activities within the constituency by making good use of the available bursaries. Mr Malulu lashed out at some of the leaders who are opposed to his bursary fund allocation system saying they were dragging the education of the Kabras children down the drain.
The number of applicants in some schools including Lukume, Manda, Chevoso, Vashele, Mukhonje, Chebwai, Tumbeni, Shirugu and Tumbeni is dismal. Notable cases are in Vashele and Shirugu and Manda dropping in their allocations from Ksh.182, 000 to Ksh.62, 000, Ksh.196, 000 to Ksh 57,000 and Ksh.184, 000 to Ksh.27, 000 respectively due attributed to toxic politics from some politicians opposed to his leadership.
“You can see that bad politics is affecting these schools allocations and definitely it will also affect their performance come the end of the year and that is why we are trying to shun bad politics from schools and I’m calling on the principals whether local or foreigners to remain steadfast and not be threatened by these prophets of development doom, just do your job as a professional and do not listen to them at all and to you parents also embrace your teachers stop fighting them every now and then so that we can accelerate towards the academic goal post”
“Why do we have to criticize every good opportunity that comes along and yet this time we have increased the funds to Ksh.40 Million and also the lowest students will get Ksh.2,500 from Ksh.2,000 after we decided to only award those with grade ‘D’ and above unlike before where we used to award anyone who applied despite the grades and this is to enable us to improve especially in those grey areas we are scoring poorly to elevate those students from their comfort zones to be able to attain better grades to be awarded bursary’’.
He said he was happy with his system of allocating funds stating that it has managed to maintain many students in class and improved the sub-county mean from the initial last position it held for many years. He also said they had decided to zero in on local schools within the sub-county unlike before where they used to give out bursaries outside the sub-county. It is my plea to urge the school managers to closely involve the local administration in their school programmes as the latter plays an important role in ensuring the security of the school and students.
Besides bursaries, the Malava CDF has been putting up offices for the chiefs since 2013where it has constructed in 8 locations out of the total 16 with the remaining having land challenges despite funds for the construction being available. The South Kabras MCA Josephat Wakukha hailed the increase in CDF funds from 14.7Million to 17.8Million within one year noting that education was being taken seriously and called on the political class to push for better learning to enable the sub-county to clinch the top position in the county. The Mugai Shirugu nominated MCA Truphena Asembo called on the county assembly to push for the bill to safeguard the girl child from early teenage pregnancies that have continued to ravage the county.
“Teenage pregnancy is what we are grappling with as a county and we need to come up with a bill that will protect our girls from the vice and enable them to be able to continue with their education despite all the odds. The Shirugu Mugai MCA Peter Wanami confirmed that the ward bursaries were also ready and will be disbursed starting next week. Already I have received four cheques out of the 8 schools in my ward and I will be giving them out soon.
