Bold student takes leaders head-on over scholarships

Until Monday this week, little was known about Mercy Jebet Tarus from Uasin Gishu county who is one of the students whose dreams of joining universities in Finland flopped after funds meant for their school fees were allegedly embezzled by county officials.

But a tough-talking Mercy has become the talk of the town after she took the county administration including Governor Jonathan Bii, his deputy John Barorot and Senator Jackson Mandago head-on over the scholarship saga as parents and other students cheered her on.

According to the outspoken Mercy, 24, whose five-minute video has gone viral on social media, many students who had hopes of joining Finnish and Canadian universities are undergoing a lot of depression.

“I feel very foolish as I stand before you, considering that I’m very young. I came with my ailing grandfather who has not eaten anything since morning. Wapi watoto wa Bii, Mandago na Barorot hapa? (have you seen Bii’s, Mandago’s or Barorot’s children here?)” said Mercy who graduated from Kabarak University in 2021 majoring in Bachelor of Education. She was to go to Australia for her further studies.
She said she has been forced to sell porridge by the roadside near her home in Marura at the outskirts of Eldoret to make ends meet as her hopes of going to Finland continue to fade by the day.

“Is this what we expected from the Kenya Kwanza administration? Mr Barorot, you are very mean with the truth, you lie to us day in, day out. I don’t know whether you’ve been sent by your bosses. You smile with us with a very smooth smile and soft face that looks very innocent but you keep on lying,” she went on.
She also faulted Governor Bii’s administration for distancing himself from the botched programme claiming it was not initiated during his era. “You cannot take over the government and runway from the liabilities of the previous regime yet you are enjoying other privileges like assets. We want the refund of our hard-earned money. That’s all,” said Mercy.

Mandago, Bii and Barorot are in the spotlight for being in charge of the exercise which has seen hundreds of students fail to travel after their fees ran into millions of shillings allegedly embezzled by some county officials. For two days in a row, irate parents and students have been camping at the county headquarters, holding meetings with the county administration where they have demanded to be refunded their money.

Mandago is a man under siege after the Uasin Gishu County Assembly ad-hoc committee which investigated the scholarship scam found out that three senior officers under his administration were responsible for the mess as they made themselves signatories of the fund to enrich themselves and withdrew millions of shillings on diverse dates.

Bii alias Koti Moja and Barorot have not been spared either with the affected students and parents hitting out at them for not giving them enough information in a bid to address their plight.

The trio were on the receiving end on Monday during a high-tempered meeting at the County Hall with the irate parents and students putting them to task to shed light on the saga which has seen some students contemplate suicide.

At one time, Mandago, now Uasin Gishu Senator almost lost his cool after a parent Reuben Chepses faulted his statement that some parents did not pay fees and the money of those who had paid was used to settle theirs with Finland and told him to his face to show where their money went.

“Have I said some parents did not pay? Please let’s be objective and stop making baseless allegations here,” said a visibly irate Mandago after he interjected.

But unrelenting Chepses claimed that of 51 students who went to Tempere University in Finland, 25 took degree courses while 26 took nursing adding that only seven had not cleared their second semester fees. “We must be truthful and honest. When you want to justify lies, you keep on circumlocuting and using a lot of words,” said Chepses.

Mandago has however defended himself arguing that registering the programme as a scholarship was meant to make things easy for students. “I could not have started this programme with bad intentions. I started it because I believed it was going to transform lives,” said Mandago. Bii at some point seemed to distance himself from the saga as tempers flared up at the County Hall.

“When I took over, this scholarship programme was already in place and when questions cropped up, I had to call my predecessor who came up with the initiative to shed light. I can’t carry all the blame,” said Bii as Mandago watched. The county government has since announced that it has no money to refund the affected parents claiming they found a mere Sh1.8 million in the scholarship account. According to Barorot, the devolved unit is in the process of engaging the universities for a possible refund but added that the process will take time.

The parents and students have in the meantime secured a police permit to hold demonstrations in Eldoret town today (Wednesday).

The saga has attracted the attention of EACC, which has commenced investigation into alleged embezzlement of more than Sh837 million Uasin Gishu County government officials.

Mercy Jebet Tarus addresses the participants during the meeting on Monday. PD/James Gitaka