- MPs have questioned millions of shillings paid by public secondary schools to KESSHA, a private members’ organisation, over the past five financial years.
- School principals have defended the payments as necessary for students’ participation in co-curricular competitions, while acknowledging the need for policy regularisation.
- Committee chair Dick Maungu has announced plans to summon KESSHA officials to explain the legal basis for receiving public funds and how the money has been utilised.
MPs have raised concerns over millions of shillings paid by public secondary schools to the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA), warning that public funds could be going to a private members’ organisation without adequate public scrutiny.
The National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education, chaired by Luanda MP Dick Maungu, said its examination of Auditor-General reports for national schools had revealed substantial payments to KESSHA over the five financial years under review. Maungu said one of the schools examined had paid about Sh6 million to the association, while another had remitted approximately Sh5 million.
“If you convert them into all the schools in the country, billions are going to KESSHA, and we want to find out whether KESSHA is a recipient of public money,” Maungu said, questioning how an organisation that is not a government entity could receive public funds without being subjected to the same level of scrutiny as public institutions.
“KESSHA is a private members’ organisation. The activities they are doing may be good and necessary, but the contributions are public funds. If it is public money, it must be accounted for,” he said.
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The committee is examining Auditor-General reports covering the 2020/21 to 2024/25 financial years for a number of national schools in the Nyanza and Western regions. The schools whose principals and senior management appeared before the committee at the Royal Swiss Hotel in Kisumu included Ng’iya Girls High School, Maseno School, Bunyore Girls High School, Chavakali Boys High School, Maranda High School and Kisumu Girls High School. The KESSHA payments were among the audit queries confronting the schools.
Maseno School principal Peter Owino Otieno told the committee that the payments were made in good faith and were intended to facilitate students’ participation in co-curricular activities. He said schools were required to pay annual subscriptions to KESSHA because failure to do so could lock students out of regional and national competitions in sports, drama and music.
“Management fully accepts the auditor’s observation regarding the transfers made to KESSHA. These transfers were made in good faith strictly to facilitate students’ co-curricular and extracurricular activities,” Owino said, adding that without paying, the institution’s students would be completely locked out of participating in such competitions. He acknowledged, however, that the method of making the payments raised concerns and said a policy intervention was needed to regularise the arrangement.
KESSHA disputes Auditor General’s queries over school funds
“The permanent regularisation of this payment channel requires policy intervention from higher authorities,” he said, adding that the association’s activities went beyond matters concerning its members and involved programmes benefiting students and schools.
The committee insisted that the legality and accountability of the payments had to be established. Lungalunga MP Chiforomodo Mangale said the starting point was to determine the legal status of KESSHA and its relationship with the schools and government. “We must start from the point of understanding how these funds are transferred to KESSHA. KESSHA is an organisation for teachers who head schools, and there was no clear indication that it is a government entity,” Mangale said.
Maungu said the committee would summon KESSHA officials to explain how the money received from public schools was used and under what legal framework the association operated.
The committee also identified weaknesses in financial management and accounting systems in some of the schools. Maungu said some schools were struggling to transition from previous school audit systems to the requirements of the current public financial management framework, noting that some school managers had yet to fully embrace Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), which are required in public institutions.
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“The shift from the school audit system, where they used to operate using different systems, to the new systems has been a challenge,” he said, adding that school managers and bursars needed to be empowered and trained to ensure compliance with financial management requirements. Despite the shortcomings, he said the committee was impressed by the general performance of the schools and their management teams. “By and large, what we have seen is impressive,” he said.
Bunyore Girls High School Chief Principal Judith Agade told the committee that some of the funds queried by auditors had been used to support students’ activities as well as training for deputy principals, bursars and teachers through workshops, aimed at improving the capacity of school staff and supporting learners. The committee noted that most fund managers in the schools reviewed do not have the requisite qualifications.
By Fredrick Odiero
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