Secondary school Principals in Taita Taveta County have urged the government to hasten the release of capitation funds to the schools as they are being threatened by ballooning pending bills worth millions of shillings owed to suppliers.
Speaking to Education News, the school heads of three such schools said that the huge debts are a living nightmare to the 88 secondary schools in the county thus hindering the smooth running of the schools.
Kenyatta High School Principal David Kagutha said that suppliers have been visiting the school incessantly for months now.
The national school owes suppliers more than Ksh5 million for food, laboratory equipment, text, and exercise books. He added that other pending bills include water and electricity bills.
Kagutha said that the Principals raised their disturbing concerns to the County Governor Andrew Mwadime who disbursed money for scholarships worth Ksh12 million on September 15.
Mwadime said that the scholarship was for the clearance of second and third term fee areas.
“This was to stop Principals from chasing students away from school for lack of fees. Suppliers have been knocking on our doors but we are in a double tragedy because parents are not paying school fees,” Kagutha said.
Elsewhere, Bura Girls High School Principal Eunice Mwikali noted that day schools are the hardest hit on unpaid bills, thus making it near impossible to run the schools under current circumstances with some Principals resorting to using their own resources to run the schools
On her part, Murray Girls Principal Deborah Okwatsa admitted that she owes suppliers millions of shillings in unpaid bills and the BoM is waiting for the national government to disburse sufficient capitation funds to foot the pending bills.
By Amoto Ndiewo
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