The Nationality is Assemblyโs Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education has warned school principals against transferring public funds to the Catholic Principals Schools Association (CAPSA) and the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA) without approval from the Ministry of Education.
The committee said such transfers were questionable because the associations were welfare organisations drawing membership from school principals and were not recognised within the governmentโs funding framework.
During the examination of Auditor-Generalโs reports for the financial years 2020/2021 to 2024/2025 Meru School, St. Mary’s Girls High School, Igoji, Chogoria Girls High School and Ikuu Boys High School.
In particular, the committee questioned St Maryโs Girls High School-Igoji Chief Principal Florence Mutwiri over payments made to the two associations.
The audit report indicated that the school transferred Sh992,950 to KESSHA and CAPSA but the auditor could not confirm whether the expenditure represented value for money because the organisations lacked an established government funding framework and assurances on effective financial management and internal controls.
Bomachoge Chache MP Hon. Alpha Miruka demanded to know the legal basis for the transfers, questioning the authority under which public funds were channelled to the associations.
โHow and why are you transferring money to KESSHA and CAPSA? Under which vote and under which law?โ Hon. Miruka asked.
He reminded the principal that money allocated to schools was public funds entrusted to accounting officers for approved expenditure and that principals could be held personally liable for unauthorised transfers.
โThe Ministry gives you money to spend. That means the same Ministry giving you money to develop infrastructure and undertake co-curricular activities expects you to manage those activities yourselves. If you transfer this money to another account, you will be held responsible as an individual and will pay from your own pocket,โ he said.
Kasipul MP Hon. Boyd Were, the committeeโs vice-chairperson, said the panel would treat the CAPSA transfers in the same manner as those to KESSHA when engaging the Ministry of Education.
โWhere you transfer any amount to KESSHA or CAPSA, you risk being surcharged as an individual. The next time you transfer money to these associations, you will pay from your own resources,โ Hon. Were warned.
He directed the committee secretariat to include CAPSA in the issues to be raised with the Ministry when the committee summons education officials over the KESSHA payments.
The committeeโs position followed concerns that schools had been remitting money to the associations without the necessary government authorisation.
Ms. Mutwiri told the committee that the contributions to CAPSA were intended to finance activities organised for Catholic-sponsored schools in Meru and Tharaka Nithi counties.
She said the activities included training teacher chaplains, capacity-building programmes for principals, training for boards of management chairpersons, retreats for principals and leadership training for students.
โWe had about six activities that we had listed for the schools. These included training teacher chaplains, training boards of management chairpersons, capacity building for principals, a retreat for principals and training student leaders,โ Ms Mutwiri said.
She explained that the contributions were meant to bring together resources to organise activities that individual schools might find difficult to undertake independently.
However, the explanation did not satisfy the MPs, who insisted that the purpose of the expenditure did not replace the requirement for proper authorisation.
Narok County Woman Representative Hon. Rebecca Tonkei asked the principal to identify the law or regulation that permitted the transfers.
โWhat rules or law did you use to transfer this money to CAPSA? This is the first time I am hearing about it,โ Hon. Tonkei said.
Ms Mutwiri acknowledged that the arrangement was not based on a specific law.
โI will explain without quoting the law because it is not law,โ she told the committee.
The principal said CAPSAโs activities covered about 100 active Catholic schools in Meru and Tharaka Nithi, which fall under the Diocese of Meru.
She, however, could not provide the total number of Catholic schools belonging to the association nationally.
Igembe Central MP Hon. Daniel Karitho questioned whether other Catholic-sponsored schools in the region were making similar contributions and demanded to know the approvals under which the money had been transferred.
Hon. Karitho said public institutions could not move funds between accounts without following the applicable approval procedures.
โThis is government money. These are public funds, and you cannot just transfer them without approvals. Even transferring funds from one account to another requires the necessary approvals,โ he said.
He warned that the principal could face a surcharge if further unauthorised transfers were established.
Central Imenti MP Hon. Moses Kirima said the committee needed to make an example of the case to prevent other principals from repeating the practice.
โPublic money must be accounted for. We need to ensure that this does not happen again,โ Hon. Kirima said.
The committee also examined Sh383,525 transferred by the school to KESSHA for co-curricular activities, an expenditure the Auditor-General had flagged as unresolved.
Ms. Mutwiri said the payments were linked to activities such as sports, athletics, drama and science and engineering fairs, which require schools to coordinate and mobilise resources.
She acknowledged, however, that the audit queries had prompted principals to reconsider the arrangement.
โAs a member of KESSHA, I think we will have to take up this issue with the top management and the relevant authorities to have the association regularised. We have realised that its legal status is an issue, even though pooling resources has helped schools organise teams and activities,โ she said.
Ms. Mutwiri clarified that she was not an official of KESSHA.
Hon. Were said the committee did not object to principals coordinating school activities through their associations but insisted that public funds could not be transferred without the required authorisation.
โWe have no issue with KESSHA as an association. The issue is that the Auditor-General has identified it as a welfare organisation that is not recognised by law for purposes of receiving these public funds. You cannot transfer money to KESSHA without authorisation from the Ministry,โ he said.
He directed schools to stop remitting money to KESSHA until the committee had consulted the Ministry and obtained guidance on the appropriate way forward.
โMeanwhile, handle your sports and other activities internally using your approved school budgets. Stop remitting money to KESSHA until we have engaged the Ministry and the relevant officials,โ Hon. Were said.
The committee chaired by Luanda MP Hon. Dick Maungu said it would seek clarification from the Ministry of Education on the status of the associations and the procedures governing any contributions by public schools.
The team warned that principals who continue making unauthorised transfers risk being held personally responsible for the money.
