Ruto is playing roulette with future of learners
By Editorial, July 26, 2025The late President Mwai Kibaki left an indelible mark on the education landscape, probably more than any leader in Kenya’s history.
By a stroke of a pen, President Kibaki decreed that Kenya would offer free primary education, and in one instance, an additional one million learners turned up in school.
The move that many doubters thought unachievable opened a window of opportunity that gave a lifeline and resuscitated the dreams and hopes of millions of young Kenyans.
Broken policies of previous governments had pushed access to education beyond the reach of many Kenyans, especially from low-income families.
Education opportunities had become the preserve of the rich and privileged. The increasing population of uneducated and unemployed young people was a recipe for endemic poverty as well as national peace and security.
The generation of young Kenyans that President Kibaki enabled to access education is manifested in the crop of highly conscious youths now on a collision course with the President William Ruto administration.
They are an empowered generation actively resisting blind obedience to a governing elite beholden to bad old habits of corruption and deceit.
The Ruto administration has barely got anything right-from higher education funding, health care, devolution and protection of constitutionalism and the rule of law.
That is why Kenyans should be alarmed by a declaration by Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi that the government has no capacity to fund free education.
The government should be reminded that free education is not a token act in the form of a budget item by the State.
It is a constitutional right enshrined in Article 53 of our Supreme law, which declares basic education to be not only “free” but also “compulsory.”
Parliament passed the Basic Education Act, which bans the payment of tuition fees.
Section 29 of the Act states that no public school shall charge or cause any parent or guardian to pay tuition fees for or on behalf of any pupil in school.
Therefore, the Treasury’s move violates provisions of Article 10 for failing to conduct public participation before making a declaration.
Article 47 of the Constitution, as read together with the Fair Administrative Action Act 2015, requires the Ministry of Education or the Treasury to issue a written notice to the public, and in this case, officials should have explained to parents the shift in public policy.
Moreover, parents who will be affected by this action have what in law is called legitimate expectations and deserve a clear and well-thought-out policy shift.
International laws such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), to which Kenya is a signatory, also protect children’s rights to education.
We must not allow the Ruto administration to play roulette with the future of Kenyan children.
The consequences will be too grave to contemplate.