By John Majau
Meru Members of County Assembly (MCAs) have proposed to increase the ward bursary fund in what might open a new battlefront between the Assembly and Governor Faith Kawira Mwangaza.
The MCAs have proposed to increase the kitty from the current Ksh 3 million to Ksh 5 million per ward.
In what could cause friction between the Executive and the Assembly, the MCAs unanimously passed a motion to have more funds allocated to bursaries for needy students across the 45 wards.
Thangatha Ward MCA Elijah Kimathi tabled the motion seeking to have the Department of Education, Technology, Gender and Social Development and Finance Department have the bursary kitty enhanced.
“I call upon the Education and Finance departments to implement this motion so that we can help the people of Meru,” Kimathi said.
Mr. Kimathi said there was also a need for equity in the distribution of the funds by issuing them based on the population numbers in each electoral area.
He argued that a legal framework was needed to promote access to education across the county, as some wards had not been receiving a fair share of the funds for their needy students.
The Assembly Deputy Speaker Ali Mwenda said they had been made aware that raising the bursary to Ksh 5 million might be a pipe dream.
“Unless we cut some spending from the office of the governor,” Mwenda said, even as he proposed to raise the amount to upwards of Ksh 10 million.
Nkuene MCA Martin Koome said some wards had a bigger population compared to others and hence the need for an equitable share of the bursaries.
Koome urged the executive to do a count of needy students in each ward to ensure they got a commensurate share of bursaries.
He argued that if the trend of allocating equal amounts to each ward is used, some wards will lose out.
Koome said the fact that some counties had managed to sponsor students to study abroad was a testament that the devolved units had enough money to fund education.
Award of bursaries had in the past caused friction between MCAs and former Governors Kiraitu Murungi and Peter Munya, with an increasing number of students in the county decrying delayed disbursements.
It is a topic that Governor Kawira waded into the last time the MCAs refused her a chance to address the Assembly during the aborted inaugural address.
“I had planned to address the issues raised of ward funds and bursaries in the Assembly but the MCAs walked out on me,” Ms Kawira said recently.
