24,000 bright and needy students in Kiambu county have benefitted from bursary funds worth Ksh100 million initiated by governor Kimani Wamatangi.
While issuing the funds at the county government headquarters in Kiambu town on Monday, Wamatangi said that another cohort of students will benefit from Ksh 100 million set to be approved by the county assembly this week through a supplementary budget which will be disbursed in June.
He announced that a further Ksh 100 million has been proposed in the 2023/2024 budget appropriation bill to be disbursed in August this year. This will total Ksh 300 million worth of bursary funds for the current financial year.
The county chief said that his plan is to establish a Ksh 600 million annual bursary kitty from next year to cover more needy students as part of his efforts to ensure access to quality education for all regardless of who the governor is.
Wamatangi said his administration has initiated the process of tendering for the construction of 78 new Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) classrooms and renovating 23 others which have been in dilapidated condition, a project estimated to take three months.
He has also initiated a feeding programme for ECDE pupils where they will be better provided with porridge and eggs in school.
“Starting this month, our ECDE children will start taking nutritious porridge every day in the morning and will have an egg three days in a week. We will also build a modern ablution block in every ECDE institution,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kiambu legislators led by Kiambu MP Machua Waithaka has lamented over insufficient bursary funds for needy learners in his constituency.
“The bursary fund allocation for Kiambu constituency is not enough since there are a lot of deserving needy students but are left out and sometimes we are forced to allocate as little as Ksh 2,000 each which is not enough to cater for their school fees,” Machua said during issuance of bursaries worth Ksh 31 million to 7,000 beneficiaries.
Kiambaa MP John Njuguna, while issuing Ksh 35 million bursary funds to 10,000 beneficiaries, said that his constituency has over 120,000 voters while other constituencies have around 20,000 voters but they get equal amount of bursaries.
He vowed to spearhead a legislation that will ensure all students get the same amount of bursary funds.
“If a needy student in Kiambaa gets Ksh 10,000, every other student in either more or less populated areas should get the same,” Njuguna said.
Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba who disbursed bursary funds worth Ksh 40 million said that as legislators they will push for equitable distribution of resources saying that the county is getting a raw deal due to its high population.
Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro who is also Chairman of the Budget and Appropriation Committee in the National Assembly said that they are coming up with an equitable formula for distribution of such funds.
By Felix Wanderi
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