This archive report was first published on 5 July 2021.
On July 5, 2021, the Education Ministry faced scrutiny over its handling of Sh5.5 billion in capital grants to universities, with the Auditor-General raising concerns over the lack of supporting documents.
According to the Auditor-General's report, the University Education Department failed to provide contract documents, valuation certificates, and project status reports to support the expenditure in the year to June 2020.
Development budgets to all universities depend on specific project completion certificates submitted to the ministry for consideration and concurrence.
As a result, it was not possible to confirm the validity and propriety of capital disbursements totalling Sh5,580,848,844 for the year ended June 30, 2020, the report stated.
The report also highlighted that Multimedia University received Sh619.5 million above the approved budget during the period under review.
The revelation comes at a time when universities are grappling with stalled projects and huge debts due to budget cuts and the decline in the number of parallel degree students.
Universities had asked the Treasury for an additional Sh20 billion to ease their cash flow challenges, but the State declined.
The Treasury allocated the university education vote Sh113 billion in the year, which is Sh10 billion less than the Sh123.6 billion the institutions received in the year to June 2020.
Treasury PS Julius Muia attributed the cut to lower revenue due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
