Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale has called for the scrapping of the bursary scheme, arguing that politicians were using the provision to plunder public funds

Taking to his X page on Sunday, August 17, 2025, the senator decried that MPs had succeeded in politicising the government-funded initiative meant to provide education and financial assistance to students at the constituency level.

According to the outspoken senator, the mismanagement of the funds on the part of the MPs is only a part of the wider public theft that has been happening.

“Not a puzzle but plain broad daylight theft of bursary funds! An audit for both the governor’s and presidential bursaries will sadly return a similar verdict. I said and I repeat, bursaries must be depoliticised and scrapped so as to pave way for free education

Khalwale’s remarks come after a new report from the Auditor General, Nancy Gathungu, revealed that up to seven counties could not account for Ksh886.7 million spent on bursaries.

The report dated Monday, August 11, 2025, also showed that out of Ksh11.12 billion allocated to counties for scholarships and bursaries, only Ksh9.8 billion was spent, leaving an unspent balance of Ksh1.3 billion. 

The seven affected counties with bursary irregularities include Nakuru County with Ksh382.9 million, Nairobi County with Ksh301.4 million, and Kakamega County with Ksh128.9 million. Others are Garissa, which has issues amounting to Ksh5.3 million, Taita Taveta, and Isiolo County, with irregularities amounting to Ksh24 million. 

The report also noted that the development happened even as the respective counties where the constituencies hailed from already had an existing education fund meant to issue bursaries to needy secondary school and college students.

Further, the review of the list of bursaries issued in the year under review showed that KMTC students were also sponsored under the County Bursary Fund. 

“Management did not provide evidence on how the vetting for the bursaries was done, and no acknowledgements from the beneficiary colleges were obtained for the fee paid,” the audit warns. 

The report also raised questions regarding scholarships and other educational benefits amounting to Ksh23 million that relate to the Inua Elimu scholarship programme.