Bungoma Governor Ken Lusaka has put in place fresh vetting committees to process bursary and scholarship applications at ward and county level.
Lusaka said the committees’ role is to vet and only allow deserving cases to benefit from the kitty. The exercise was conducted at the county headquarters on Monday.
Lusaka asked committee members to be vigilant while carrying out the exercise saying that he will not tolerate irregularities as witnessed before.
“The vetting process should be very free and fair to ensure that only deserving cases are awarded the bursary and scholarship funds,” Lusaka noted.
He said that similar committees of the previous regime awarded scholarships to children of able parents including members of the county assembly, senior government employees, county staff, school principals, the police and chief officers at the expense of bright needy children from poor households.
Lusaka said that the task force he appointed on education revealed that some of the form four students who had done exams and left were still getting funding from the scholarship. He asked members of the public to be vigilant and report any anomalies in management of the kitty
Webuye West MP Dan Wanyama urged the county ward bursary and scholarship committees to share the beneficiary lists with both the ward bursary kitty and the NG-CDF so that beneficiaries do not get double funding, arguing that it will give an avenue for more needy cases to benefit.
“I strongly support the move by the county government of Bungoma for this noble idea but let us work with both the ward and the NG-CDF to ensure that beneficiaries won’t appear on both lists,” Wanyama said.
By Roseland Lumwamu
