NAIROBI, Kenya, June 25 – The High Court has urged the government to establish a coordinated national database to track education bursaries and scholarships, citing gaps in transparency and oversight in the current system.
In a ruling, Justice Bahati Mwamuye said the absence of a centralised tracking system, clear criteria for awarding bursaries and adequate oversight of National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) and county bursary programmes raises constitutional concerns.
The case arose from a petition filed by former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu, who argued that Kenya’s education funding model is fragmented and disadvantages needy learners.
Waititu told the court that institutions such as the Ministry of Education, NG-CDF and county governments issue bursaries independently without a unified system to track beneficiaries, creating opportunities for duplication, misuse of funds and unequal access.
He argued that some students receive funding from multiple sources while others who qualify for support are left out.
The former governor had sought orders compelling the establishment of a National Basic Education Fund to oversee a nationwide database for monitoring education funding and addressing what he termed constitutional violations in the allocation of bursaries.
However, government officials and the Speaker of the National Assembly opposed the petition, arguing that the government has taken steps to improve access to education and that the court should not interfere with decisions on how education is funded.
In its ruling, the court identified several weaknesses in the current system, including the lack of a national beneficiary database, the absence of transparent criteria for identifying deserving students, weak accountability mechanisms and concerns over the qualifications of some oversight bodies.
Justice Mwamuye declined to order the creation of a National Basic Education Fund, saying the establishment of new institutions is a function of Parliament and not the Judiciary.
The court instead directed the Executive and Parliament to take steps to develop transparent bursary allocation criteria, strengthen oversight mechanisms and improve accountability in the management of education funding.
