- KUPPET Chairman Omboko Milemba has raised allegations that OAG auditors are demanding cash payments from school principals in exchange for favourable audit reports.
- Milemba has called for a comparison of MoE and Auditor-General reports to assess overlaps and discrepancies in school audits.
- KESSHA Chairman Willy Kuria has urged authorities to investigate the bribery claims
Allegations of extortion have emerged against officers from the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG), with school heads claiming they were asked to pay cash in exchange for favourable audit reports or the suppression of adverse findings.
The allegations were raised publicly on Tuesday by Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Chairman and Emuhaya MP Omboko Milemba, who called for investigations into the claims.
Milemba said concerns raised by auditors about financial management in schools should not be ignored, but urged relevant authorities to establish whether the audit process itself had been conducted properly. He proposed a comparison of audit reports prepared by the Ministry of Education and those issued by the Auditor-General to establish whether there are overlaps, gaps or discrepancies in the way public schools are audited.
The MP also raised concerns about the duplication of audits, noting that schools are subjected to scrutiny by several oversight institutions, including the Ministry of Education, the Office of the Auditor-General and Parliament’s committee. “For them to write a favourable report, the auditors are now claiming another set of money. Small and medium schools are paying Ksh 500,000; bigger, populated schools are being demanded to pay Ksh 1.5 million and above,” he said.
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According to Milemba, the multiplicity of audits has placed additional pressure on school administrations, with principals and their staff spending significant time preparing documents, responding to audit queries and appearing before different oversight bodies. He further alleged that the situation had created an environment in which some school administrators were being pressured to raise money for auditors rather than concentrating on the management of their institutions.
The allegations come amid unprecedented scrutiny of public secondary schools following audits by the Auditor-General. The audits have flagged a range of financial management concerns, including unauthorised fee increases, illegal levies, large cash withdrawals and expenditures that were not adequately documented.
Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) Chairman Willy Kuria called on relevant agencies to investigate the bribery allegations and establish the facts. Kuria said principals do not oppose audits but insisted that the process must comply with the law, remain objective and provide schools with clear mechanisms for addressing disputed findings.
He warned that unresolved allegations surrounding the audit process could affect the operations of schools and undermine confidence in the oversight system.
By Obegi Malack
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