Editorials

EDITORIAL: Officials must style up

HENRY

National Treasury CS Henry Rotich. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Treasury secretary Henry Rotich’s frustrations with Higher Education officials over the erratic disbursement of university student loans are understandable.

Mr Rotich says the bureaucrats at Jogoo House have failed to develop a long-term plan for allocations to the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb), which mostly benefits students from underprivileged families, despite being advised by the Treasury to do so.

In the absence of such a plan, the Treasury has had to contend with “requests (from the Higher Education officials) every other month when they run out of cash.”

Mr Rotich’s revelations raise several questions as to whether the officials take their work seriously, can account for the huge wages they pick every month at taxpayers’ expense or appreciate the consequences of their casual attitude to public service.

READ: Varsity loans crisis as Helb cash crunch bites

Delays in the release of Helb funds to students, especially the first years, to enable them pay for tuition, accommodation and upkeep, continue to drive many of them into destitution on campus.

To try to make ends meet, some of them take up jobs that expose them to crime and social vices. Incidents of student unrest related to erratic loan disbursements often disrupt learning and delay graduation at public universities.

It is time the Jogoo House bureaucrats were made to account for their role in the chaos and destitution at the learning institutions.