MPs question millions paid to KESSHA by public schools
MPs question millions paid to KESSHA by
public schools
September 4, 2026
A
watchdog committee of parliament has raised questions over millions of
shillings paid by public secondary schools to the Kenya Secondary School Heads
Association (KSSHA) warning that public funds could be channelled to a private
members’ organisation without adequate public scrutiny.
The
National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education, chaired by Luanda MP Dick Maungu, says its examination of
Auditor-General reports for national schools had revealed substantial payments
to KSSHA over the five financial years under review.
Maungu
says one of the schools examined had paid about Sh6 million to the association,
while another had remitted approximately Sh5 million.
“If you
convert them into all the schools in the country, there are billions going to
KSSHA, and we want to find out whether KSSHA is a recipient of public
money,” Maungu says.
He
questions how an organisation that is not a government entity could receive
public funds without being subjected to the same level of scrutiny as public
institutions.
“KSSHA is
a private members’ organisation. The activities they are doing may be good and
necessary, but the contributions are public funds. If it is public money, it
must be accounted for,” he says.
The
committee is examining Auditor-General reports covering the 2020/21 to 2024/25
financial years for a number of national schools in the Nyanza and Western
region.
The
schools whose principals and senior management appeared before the committee at
the Royal Swiss Hotel in Kisumu yesterday included Ng’iya Girls High School,
Maseno School, Bunyore Girls High School, Chavakali Boys High School, Maranda
High School and Kisumu Girls High School.
The KSSHA
payments were among the audit queries confronting the schools.
Maseno
School principal Peter Owino Otieno has told the committee that the payments
were made in good faith and were intended to facilitate students’ participation
in co-curricular activities.
He says
schools were required to pay annual subscriptions to KSSHA because failure to
do so could lock students out of regional and national competitions in sports,
drama and music.
“Management
fully accepts the auditor’s observation regarding the transfers made to KSSHA.
These transfers were made in good faith strictly to facilitate students’
co-curricular and extracurricular activities,” Mr. Owino says.
He adds
that without paying them, the institution’s students are completely locked out
and disallowed from participating in sports, drama, music or other regional and
national talent competitions.
Owino, however, acknowledges that the method
of making the payments raised concerns and said a policy intervention was
needed to regularise the arrangement.
“The
permanent regularisation of this payment channel requires policy intervention from
higher authorities,” he says.
The
principal says the association’s activities went beyond matters concerning its
members and involved programmes benefiting students and schools.
But the
committee insisted that the legality and accountability of the payments had to
be established.
Lungalunga
MP Chiforomodo Mangale said the starting point was to determine the legal
status of KSSHA and its relationship with the schools and government.
“We must
start from the point of understanding how these funds are transferred to KSSHA.
KSSHA is an organisation for teachers who head schools, and there was no clear
indication that it is a government entity,” Mangale says.
Kiminini
MP Maurice Kakai Bisau describes KSSHA as a private club whose membership is
drawn from school heads.
“KSSHA
remains a private club, a private organisation managed by principals in the
teaching fraternity. In the absence of it being formalised, we still look at it
as a private members’ organisation,”
Bisau says.
He urges
the committee to establish who owns and controls the association and the basis
upon which public schools remit money to it.
“This is
something we need to interrogate because we cannot continue seeing funds being
sent to an organisation without proper control and accountability,” he says.
Maungu
says the committee would summon KSSHA officials to explain how the money
received from public schools was used and under what legal framework the
association operated.
“We want
to know why a private members’ club should enjoy public money yet its
operations cannot be publicly scrutinised like those of a public institution,”
he says.
The
committee chairman says the issue had persisted for years partly because
Parliament previously had a huge workload in examining public institutions.
He says
the splitting of the former Public Investments Committee into three specialised
committees had enabled Parliament to undertake more detailed scrutiny of public
institutions.
“We are
proud as a Parliament that we have been able to look at the Auditor-General’s
reports to the present. Right now, we are looking at 2025/26, meaning we are
now current,”
Maungu
says.
He adds
that the committee would pursue the matter with KSSHA leadership and relevant
government agencies.
Beyond
KSSHA payments, the committee has identified weaknesses in financial management
and accounting systems in some of the schools.
Maungu says
some schools were struggling to transition from the systems previously used
under school audits to the requirements of the current public financial
management framework.
The
Lawmaker further adds that some school managers had yet to fully embrace Public
Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), which are required in public institutions.
“The
shift from the school audit system, where they used to operate using different
systems, to the new systems has been a challenge,” he adds.
He says school
managers and bursars needed to be empowered and trained to ensure compliance
with financial management requirements.
“Some of
these schools are not shifting to Public Sector Accounting Standards. We need
to know why, and they need to be empowered so that they can be able to do the
right thing,” Maungu says.
Despite
the shortcomings, he said the committee was impressed by the general
performance of the schools and the efforts of their management teams.
“By and
large, what we have seen is impressive,” he says.
Bunyore
Girls High School Chief Principal Judith Agade has told the committee that some
of the funds queried by auditors had been used to support students’ activities
as well as training for deputy principals, bursars and teachers through
workshops.
She says
the expenditure was aimed at improving the capacity of school staff and
supporting learners.
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