The High Court has blocked the disbursement of Sh350 million allegedly meant for payment of tuition fees for secondary school children in Mandera County, pending the hearing of a petition filed by a resident.
Justice Hedwig Ong’udi stopped the implementation of the county bursary fund programme, which was launched by the Mandera county government early this month, pending the determination of a case filed by Mr Abdullahi Mohamed Ahmed.
Mr Ahmed says in a petition that the programme known as ‘Elimu Kwa Wote Initiative’, was launched early this month without following the constitution.
“In the interim, a conservatory order is issued in terms of Prayer No. 2 of the Notice of Motion,” the judge said.
Mr Ahmed says although he is not opposed to supporting needy students, there was no public participation and the Mandera county government has refused to share the modalities of sharing the funds among the 59 public secondary schools in the county.
The petitioner says the county government has not provided a list of all the beneficiaries and the modalities of allocation of the funds.
He further says there was no budget allocation for the program initiated and ‘if there is any the same did not comply with Article 10 of the Constitution on public participation before the same is approved’.
“That implementing the programme without following the correct laid down procedures would amount to a breach of fundamental provisions of the Constitution,” he said.
Mr Ahmed says the constitution provides that there should be proper agreements between the two levels of government before one assumes the functions of another.
The petitioner says during the launch of the initiative that the program will complement the NG-CDF bursary schemes and that the government is currently looking into a joint online application system that is effective and efficient to lessen the duplication of bursary awards.
“The initiative has contravened various laws including the Mandera County Education Bursary Act, Public Finance Management Act, 2012 and Mandera County Finance Act, 2014,” he said.
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