Magoha Dismisses Report On Sh10m Allowances, Says He’s Ready To Go To Jail
After reports surfaced that Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha and his staff were paid over Sh10 million in allowances for touring the country “to monitor the distribution of lockers and desks” in schools, the CS defended the payments.
Prof. Magoha stated on Monday that he prefers to personally inspect projects to ensure proper execution.
“I go to commission projects because I don’t trust anybody. I must make sure that I’m not given reports that can’t be verified.
"It’s so much better to go to jail because you went to inspect something that is there that cannot be carried away, instead of being praised for or accused of spending money that was used on something that’s not there.”
Prof Magoha was speaking at the commissioning of a CBC classroom at Chania Girls High School in Thika West, Kiambu County, on Monday.
He recently launched Phase II of the project, which will add 3,503 classrooms to the 6,497 that were built in Phase I to increase space before the transition to junior secondary school in January of next year.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu criticized top management at the Ministry of Education in her most recent audit report for spending more than Sh10 million in 2020 to pay daily subsistence allowances to staff from Nairobi headquarters who monitor the distribution of desks in schools.
She claimed that the exercise could have been completed at “minimal or no cost” by county employees.
“The state department has established offices in all counties and the staff in these offices could have been used with minimal or no costs.
“This expenditure was therefore against Section 79(2b) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 which states that a public officer employed in a National Government state organ or public entity should ensure that resources within the officer’s area of responsibility are used in a way that is lawful and authorized and effective, efficient, economical and transparent,” the report reads in part.
The desks and lockers project was part of a Covid-19 economic stimulus package aimed at social distancing and promoting local artisans whose businesses had been ravaged by the pandemic.
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Meanwhile, during his visit to Kiambu on Monday, the CS urged contractors across the country to expedite the construction of education projects.
He also stated that when schools resume their regular academic calendar in January, teachers will be upgraded on the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) through school-based programs.
Magoha Dismisses Report On Sh10m Allowances, Says He’s Ready To Go To Jail
