Three weeks before the opening of schools, a damning report has revealed how some national secondary schools are blatantly ignoring existing regulations to engage in financial irregularities.

 According to the report released by Elimu Bora Working Group secondary schools are facing serious lapses in accountability and transparency due to unsupported expenses, irregular procurement procedures, and disregard for government regulations.

Notably Moi Girls’ High School Kamusinga in Bungoma, Maranda High School in Siaya, Masii Boys High School in Machakos county, Butula Boys High School In Busia county, Machakos Girls High School in Machakos county and Nyamira Girls’ High School in Siaya county are some of the institutions adversely mentioned in the report.

All the schools had discrepancies, such as unsupported expenditures and missing financial records.

“Many schools received qualified or adverse opinions on their financial statements due to inaccuracies, unsupported balances, and inconsistencies with supporting schedules,” Elimu Bora said citing the 2021/2022 Auditor General report.

Additionally, the Group reported how the audited schools flouted procurement laws through irregular tenders, inflated costs and direct procurement without following requisite procedures.

Calling on the Ministry of Education to crack the whip, Elimu Bora noted that school oversight has failed paving the way for principals to run school with impunity.

The school resorted to other malpractices including hiking school fees contrary to the Ministry of Education directives to fund their unbudgeted projects.

At Nyamira Girls’ High School in Siaya county, the school charged extra levies of Sh8,725 per student for Board of Management (BoM) teachers, amounting to Sh9,221,175 for the 2021/22 financial year. However, approvals from the Ministry of Education for the additional fees charged and BoM were not provided for audit review.

Additional fees

Other institutions with outrageous fee hikes are Butula Boys High School with unapproved additional fees of Sh23,353,542 and Masii Boys High School charged an extra Sh7,000 per student for lunch, contrary to the Ministry of Education’s guidelines.

Moi Girls’ High School Kamusinga in Bungoma county could not account for Sh94.6 million for boarding and school fund payments during the financial year under review.

“The audit found that procurement records for boarding and school fund payments, including requisitions, local/purchase or service orders, counter receipts and issue vouchers, stores ledger, inspection and acceptance reports, invoices, and delivery notes, were not provided for audit review,” the Group stated.

Inflated cost

In the same year, Maranda High School officials inflated the cost of construction of a two-storey dormitory by over Sh8.5 million from an initial contract valued at Sh24.3 million to Sh32.9 million.

The school did not provide crucial procurement records at the time of the audit thus inhibiting verification of the procurement process and the justification for the cost overruns. Maranda and Moi Girl’s Kamusinga were also listed among the schools that made irregular transfers of funds to the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KSSHA) with each contributing Sh1.72 million to the association during the year under review.