Kenya’s national schools are facing a widening accountability problem over the management of public funds, learning materials, unpaid fees and commercial borrowing, prompting a parliamentary committee to demand tighter controls and explanations from education officials.
The National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education said it had uncovered significant inconsistencies in the distribution of textbooks, millions of shillings in long-standing fee arrears, questionable school borrowing and procurement practices that may not comply with public procurement law.
The committee, chaired by Luanda MP Dick Maungu, said the findings raised fundamental questions about how public resources are being allocated and managed in schools that are expected to operate under the same financial and procurement rules as other public institutions.
The scrutiny emerged during the committee’s examination of Auditor-General’s reports covering the 2020/21 to 2024/25 financial years for several national schools at a retreat in Kisumu.
Among the school officials who appeared before the committee were principals and senior principals from Ng’iya Girls High School, Maseno School, Maranda Boys High School, Kisumu Girls High School and Chavakali Boys High School, Maranda School, Kisii School, Nyabururu Girls, Homabay High, Bunyore Girls and Asumbi Girls.
At the centre of the committee’s concerns was the distribution of textbooks, with MPs questioning why some schools were receiving books far beyond their requirements while institutions in marginalised and remote areas continued to struggle with shortages.
“We have seen a school that received 400 and 506 extra books,” Maungu said.
The figures, he said, demanded an explanation from the agency responsible for coordinating curriculum materials.
“The question is, when you receive extra numbers, does it mean there is a school somewhere that does not have books?” he asked.
The committee said it would summon the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development to account for the distribution system, including the data used to determine the number of textbooks allocated to individual schools.
Maungu said the Government could not justify a system in which schools received excessive supplies while learners in marginalised areas remained without adequate learning materials.
“We expect KICD to have the right data to ensure that the books supplied are enough for the students who are there, so that those in far-flung areas in Mandera, Turkana and other places get what is supposed to be theirs,” he said.
The committee’s concern extends beyond textbooks to the financial pressures facing schools, particularly millions of shillings in unpaid fees accumulated over many years.
Some of the outstanding receivables, MPs were told, date back to 2010 and 2015, raising questions about whether schools have effective systems for recovering debts and accounting for money owed to them.
“A matter came out that schools have millions of shillings which are collected, and you find some of them date back to 2015 or 2010,” Maungu said.
The problem has left school administrators caught between recovering money owed to their institutions and complying with Government policy that prevents schools from withholding students’ certificates because of unpaid fees.
“We have advised them that they don’t need to hold a certificate for the learner because this student wants to join university or college. On the other side, they need to have this money paid,” Maungu said.
The committee said schools with accumulated arrears should prepare detailed schedules showing the outstanding amounts and submit them to the Ministry of Education for consideration rather than allowing the debts to remain unresolved.
“Such cannot happen by the authority of the board or the ministry. They need to seek a waiver from the ministry and table a schedule of all the fees that are in arrears for many years before the Basic Education Department, which can then forward it to Treasury,” he said.
Maungu also pointed to delayed Government capitation as one of the factors contributing to the financial difficulties experienced by some schools.
“Some of those receivables are due to capitation not being sent. We call upon the Government to ensure that it supports the head teachers by making their work easier by sending capitation as it should,” he said.
The committee took an even harder position on schools obtaining loans from commercial banks to finance construction and other projects without the necessary Government approvals.
Maungu cited Ng’iya Girls High School, where the management had previously secured a bank loan of about Sh50 million for a project estimated to cost approximately Sh150 million.
He warned that uncontrolled borrowing by school administrators could expose public institutions to financial obligations that taxpayers would ultimately be forced to meet.
“That should be very limited. If you allow principals to keep borrowing money left, right and centre, we shall enter into a total mess,” he said.
The committee was told that Ng’iya Girls had subsequently cleared the loan. But Maungu said the repayment of the facility did not resolve the larger question of whether the borrowing had been authorised in the first place.
“The law is very clear. No principal can simply walk into a bank and take a facility. There should be approvals from the Ministry of Education and Treasury,” he said.
The committee said it would recommend clear rules governing borrowing by public schools and make it difficult for school administrations to enter into financial commitments outside established Government procedures.
“We shall table a report in Parliament on what should happen with schools that go into borrowing because that should not be allowed,” he said.
The committee also questioned why some national schools do not have qualified procurement officers despite being public institutions subject to Kenya’s public procurement laws.
Maungu said schools could not operate as though they were private entities when spending public money.
“The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act is very clear as to how public institutions must procure. It is unfortunate that some of our schools procure as if they are procuring for private entities,” he said.
He said national schools should have qualified procurement professionals responsible for ensuring that purchases and contracts comply with the law.
“It is important that a national school has a head of procurement who can procure and follow what is supposed to be done,” he said.
For smaller institutions that may not be able to sustain full-time procurement departments, the committee suggested that the Ministry of Education use its sub-county structures to provide the necessary technical support.
The committee said its findings would be incorporated into a report to Parliament, alongside recommendations intended to strengthen financial controls, procurement procedures and accountability across public schools.
Maungu described the exercise as a significant expansion of parliamentary oversight of secondary schools, saying Parliament had a constitutional responsibility to examine how public resources are managed.
“Going by the new Constitution, the Public Finance Management Act and the Public Audit Act, it is very important that this committee, which is in charge of governance and education, examines the reports of the Auditor-General,” he said.
“For the first time ever in this country, this committee will be taking on the books of high schools.”
The committee has begun its review with national schools, classified as C1 institutions, before moving to other categories of secondary schools.
With about 297 national schools in the country, Maungu said the institutions provided a manageable starting point for a broader parliamentary examination of school finances.
The committee’s investigation places national schools under a level of scrutiny rarely seen in the management of secondary education. Its findings could force the Ministry of Education and other agencies to tighten textbook allocation, resolve years-old fee arrears, enforce controls on school borrowing and ensure that public procurement rules are followed.
At stake is not merely administrative compliance but the stewardship of public resources intended to support learners. The committee is signalling that schools will no longer be treated as financial islands operating beyond the reach of parliamentary oversight.
