A new audit has exposed mismanagement, inequitable distribution and delayed disbursement of bursaries and scholarships, putting woman representatives on the spot.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has put the lawmakers under scrutiny in a performance audit of the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF).
The findings point to the possibility of thousands of needy students going without the support they desperately require.
The report, covering the financial years 2021-22 to 2024-25, reveals the fund received Sh1.8 billion for bursaries and scholarships.
The money was to support needy and vulnerable learners, including orphans, persons with disabilities and children from low-income households. Beneficiaries include women and survivors of gender-based violence
However, the audit has established that the funds have not been effectively reaching the intended beneficiaries.
It is emerging that county committees, often chaired by women representatives, are failing to ensure equitable allocation.
According to the audit report tabled in Parliament recently there was no proper verification of the socio-economic status and vulnerability of applicants.
Without proper validation, the bursary amounts awarded were determined by the level of the relevant learning institution or by committee discretion.
"County committees relied primarily on submitted application forms without adequate verification of need,” the audit report read.
“As a result, award amounts varied, did not consistently align with fee balances or the prescribed thresholds, leading to fee underpayment and overpayment," the report reads.
The audit found that students with high outstanding fee balances of Sh20,000 and above received bursaries as little as Sh3,000 to Sh5,000.
Others received amounts exceeding their fee requirements, yet thousands of deserving learners remained locked out.
From the sampled counties, 290 students received insufficient bursaries, while 44 learners were overpaid.
The cases were cited across Nairobi, Kirinyaga, Makueni and Kilifi counties.
Gathungu has recommended the Ministry of Education collaborates with Parliament to develop a centralised bursary kitty.
The aim is to develop a multi-agency collaboration framework for public bursary providers.
Gathungu further asked agencies handling the kitty to establish a centralised bursary issuance and administration system.
NGAAF Access to Funds Guidelines of 2021 requires allocations to be based on verified evidence of financial need, including fee statements.
The audit reviewed 307 sampled beneficiary application forms across four counties and found that 197 were not correctly filled.
Further, out of 296 forms reviewed, 162 recipients were awarded funds despite submitting incomplete applications. They lacked the required attachments, such as fee statements, birth certificates, or parents' death certificates.
There is no standardised vetting checklist. County committees lack enough time and usually have three days to process payments.
This rush, according to the Auditor General, is caused by delayed disbursements from the National Treasury.
"As a result, fairness and transparency in the allocation process were compromised,” Gathungu said.
She said the situation creates uncertainty as to whether funds were awarded to needy and vulnerable beneficiaries.
The audit also identified cases of learners receiving multiple bursaries from NGAAF and other providers.
The audit report named the National Government-Constituency Development Fund, county governments, the Elimu Scholarship and the Presidential Secondary Schools Bursary.
The total number of duplicated records across all providers increased from 27,222 in 2021-22 to 91,429 in 2024-25.
NGAAF beneficiaries caught up in the duplication ranged from 1,890 to 6,620 during the period under review.
A total of 972 beneficiaries received multiple awards in the same financial year.
Of these, the majority received four awards and one learner benefited 10 times from various bursary schemes.
"Lack of coordination and data-sharing mechanisms contributed to duplication of awards and reduced the fund's ability to effectively support access to needy and vulnerable learners," the audit reported.
Persons with disabilities (PWDs) remained largely marginalised in the share of bursaries.
“The proportion of bursary beneficiaries who were PWDs remained at about 4.6 per cent throughout the audit period,” the report read.
Potential beneficiaries faced barriers in accessing application forms, only obtained from and submitted through county coordinators' or Women's Representatives' offices.
The audit also exposed delays in disbursement of funds from the National Treasury to NGAAF.
Delays ranged from one week to slightly over a year across the sampled counties of Kilifi, Kisii and Makueni.
Disbursements took place, on average, seven months after the required start of the first quarter on July 1.
This means counties could only issue bursaries in the middle of the first academic term.
Reliance on cheques has also been queried after payments resulted in uncollected, unpresented and stale-dated cheques across counties.
Kirinyaga and Kilifi counties recorded the highest values of unutilised cheques.
That amounted to Sh894,800 and Sh990,000, respectively, while Makueni had Sh55,000.
The audit found that the NGAAF Board and county committees failed to provide effective oversight of the bursary and scholarship programme.
County committees conducted informal school monitoring visits with no evidence of documented feedback reports.
The fund's information management systems remained manual, fragmented and inconsistently applied across counties.
Auditors found beneficiary data stored in Excel spreadsheets and supporting documents kept in carton boxes with no digital backup.
The Auditor General made a number of recommendations to address the identified gaps.
She wants chiefs and assistant chiefs involved in identifying the targeted needy learners.
The administrators are also to help deliver targeted civic education at the grassroots level about bursaries and other affirmative action funds.
Gathungu has further proposed direct remittance of funds to learning institutions through electronic transfer.
She said the Kenya Education Management Information System and the Integrated Financial Management Information Systems are sufficient for the task.
INSTANT ANALYSIS
The findings point to the possibility of thousands of needy students going without the support they desperately require.
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