By JANE WAITHIRA
Mathioya Member of Parliament Edwin Mugo has blamed the Executive for delays in disbursing school capitation funds, insisting that Parliament had allocated adequate resources for the education sector in the current budget.
The legislator said the responsibility now lies with the Executive to ensure the timely release of the funds to schools to enable them to run smoothly and provide quality education.
“Parliament has already played its part by allocating the funds in the budget. It is now upon the Executive to ensure they are released in good time and that the amounts are sufficient to meet the needs of schools,” Mugo said.
The MP, who sits on the National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee, maintained that lawmakers had provided adequate funding for both basic and higher education.
“I sit in the Budget and Appropriations Committee, and I can confidently say we allocated enough funds for both basic education and higher learning,” he said.
His remarks come amid growing concern from school heads over delayed and reduced capitation, which they say has disrupted learning and forced institutions to accumulate debts as they struggle to meet operational expenses.
The government has in recent months faced criticism from education stakeholders over delays in releasing capitation funds, with school administrators warning that the cash flow challenges have affected the purchase of learning materials, payment for essential services and other day-to-day operations.
Mugo described education as a critical national investment and called for a bipartisan approach in resolving challenges facing the sector instead of politicising the issue.
He also opposed proposals to increase school fees to bridge the funding gap, arguing that doing so would place an additional financial burden on parents already grappling with the high cost of living.
“We cannot afford to place an extra burden on parents because many are already struggling financially. Increasing school fees could force more children to drop out of school and erode the gains made under the free basic education programme,” he said.
Instead, the MP urged the government to prioritize the timely release of capitation funds, saying this would ease the financial pressure facing schools without passing the burden to parents.
He noted that many learning institutions have been operating on credit due to delayed government disbursements, forcing some schools to ask parents for additional financial contributions to remain operational.
Mugo spoke at Mioro Day Senior Secondary School, where he handed over a new school bus purchased through the Mathioya National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF).
His comments come just days after Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro accused the government of deliberately undermining the education sector by delaying the release of capitation funds and reducing allocations to schools.
Nyoro claimed that adequate resources had been set aside for education but alleged that delays in disbursement and reductions in funding were intentional and had crippled the sector.
Echoing Mugo’s concerns, Mioro Day Senior Secondary School Principal Ng’ang’a Muturi said schools have for several years failed to receive the full capitation allocated per learner, forcing administrators to cut back on essential programmes and routine operations.
He urged the government to release the funds promptly and in full to enable schools to provide quality education without interrupting learning or shifting the financial burden to parents.
