Editorials

EDITORIAL: State scholarships must be awarded on merit

grads

A past graduation ceremony in Nakuru County. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Almost 55 years since Kenya attained self-rule, nobody can question the role that education has played in narrowing the inequality gap.

It is through education that children from humble backgrounds have gotten to share learning materials, classrooms and teachers with their counterparts from rich families.

And to a large extent, young Kenyans from humble backgrounds have used skills and competencies acquired through formal education to compete fairly for opportunities in post-school training and jobs market.

It is precisely for this reason that huge chunks of public revenue is spent not only on employment of teachers, purchase of education materials and to subsidise tuition fees but also to sustain education loans, scholarships and bursary schemes.

That is why we find it awkward that while serving as head of state, former president Mwai Kibaki had civil servants award scholarships worth Sh25.5 million to his two relatives.

The National Asembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has found that former head of public service Francis Muthaura, the then personal assistant to Mr Kibaki Prof Nick Wanjohi and Higher Education PS at the time, Prof Chrispus Kiamba, erred in executing Mr Kibaki’s verbal directive.

It is not difficult to understand why Mr Kibaki, who also holds the record as Kenya’s longest serving Finance minister, would fail to back up his verbal directive with a written communication.

The truth is that lack of transparency in the management and award of educational funds has served the interest of the elite more than poor households.

It is no secret that access to government scholarships and bursaries has over the years been skewed in favour of people in positions of influence and their associates. And when the funds get to the targeted group, it is always to reward loyalty, not because they are deemed poor and vulnerable.

That partly explains why nearly everyone in the hierarchy – ward representative, provincial administration, MP, Senator, Governor and the Presidency want to have direct control over education funds. This case should be used as an example of what will continue to happen if education bursaries and scholarships are left to the whims of politicians.