The government’s call for an audit of all public schools is prudent and long overdue.
It’s the right thing to do especially where public funds and education are concerned, and belated because monitoring of the use of taxpayer money should be a routine activity that does not require such an order.
Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang last week told auditors tasked with monitoring funds use in the country’s 28,000 public schools to ensure that they audit every cent and raise the red flag if fraud or abuse of office is identified.
Head teachers, backed by their boards of management, have always been the principal accounting officers for schools, making decisions on supplies, remuneration, daily expenditure and many other financial activities.
They manage billions of shillings paid by parents or the government for provision of quality education and ensuring the welfare of learners.
Sadly, corruption has not spared schools and cases of looting, over-invoicing, irregular tendering, bribe demands and other forms of fraud have been reported.
Schools spend approximately Sh100 billion every year on school fees, Sh13 billion of which is paid by the government to finance free primary education and roughly Sh60 billion on free day secondary education.
Such a colossal amount of money should be used judiciously and with zealous oversight from auditors.
Yet, some auditors have been the drivers of corruption in schools, demanding bribes in order not to point out fraud or abuse of office.
Some unscrupulous head teachers have bought the loyalty of auditors, whom they pay a regular retainer as hush money.
Suppliers, teachers and other workers on school payroll go for long periods without pay as head teachers line their pockets with kickbacks from unqualified suppliers and contractors.
The ultimate loser is, invariably, the learner and the parents who spend their hard-earned cash on school fees hoping to give their children a promising future in a highly competitive world.
The government is right in sounding a warning to head teachers that they face jail if found to have misappropriated their schools’ funds.
But, it must walk the talk by prosecuting the purveyors of corruption and having them jailed if found guilty.
Those found to have accumulated wealth that they cannot explain or justify must be made give it up to the State.
Equally, auditors found to be working in cahoots with thieving school managers must face the full force of the law.
Importantly, the Education ministry must strengthen the audit unit to ensure it has capacity and resources to monitor how school finances are spent.
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