NAIROBI,Kenya Sep 11 – A former Homa Bay High School principal has come under intense scrutiny from MPs over the institution’s Sh184 million liabilities and millions of shillings in outstanding imprest accumulated during his tenure.
Vincent Omondi Mayienga, who was transferred to Sirembe Mixed Day Secondary School in Siaya County in May, was grilled by the National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education over the financial management of the national school.
The committee, chaired by Luanda MP Dick Maungu, questioned how the school accumulated huge debts while millions of shillings issued as imprest remained unaccounted for.
Mayienga admitted that he was uncomfortable leaving Homa Bay High School with the massive liability.
“I don’t feel good,” he told the committee when asked how he felt about leaving behind a Sh184 million liability.
The MPs were examining Auditor-General reports on the school when they raised concerns over its growing debts, implementation of budgets and the management of imprest.
Mayienga attributed the financial strain partly to a shortfall between the amount schools are required to budget for and the actual capitation received from the government.
He said schools are required to budget for Sh22,244 per learner, yet actual government capitation over the past seven years had averaged about Sh15,000 per learner.
“So definitely, you realise that if the capitation is not done fully, then we are going to have a financial gap,” Mayienga said.
He also blamed non-payment of school fees by parents, saying the school did not collect the full amount expected from learners.
According to the former principal, fees are capped at Sh40,000 per learner, but actual collections averaged about 60 per cent of the expected revenue.
“That gives us another shortfall in terms of our operations,” he said.
But Maungu rejected the explanation, reminding the former principal that public institutions cannot incur expenditure on the basis of money they expect to receive.
“Please, I want to stop you there and draw you to the pronouncements of the Public Finance Management Act. It says you spend what you have, not what you’ve budgeted for,” Maungu said.
The chairman questioned how the school continued to incur expenditure despite receiving less funding than it had budgeted for.
“According to you, you spend what you budgeted as much as you don’t have money. The meaning is that you’ve left a huge bill to the school. The school is almost technically insolvent,” Maungu said.
He also questioned whether the former principal had demonstrated proper governance and accountability during his tenure.
“Do you think you are a good champion of governance, really, and accountability?” the chairman asked.
Imprest under scrutiny
The committee’s concerns were heightened by the school’s management of imprest.
The Auditor-General’s report for the year ended June 30, 2025 shows that Homa Bay High School reported account receivables of Sh71.68 million, including an imprest balance of Sh23.06 million.
By the time of the audit in March 2026, Sh19.07 million remained outstanding.
The Auditor-General said the failure to surrender the imprest was contrary to Regulation 93(5) of the Public Finance Management (National Government) Regulations, 2015, which requires holders of temporary imprest to account for or surrender it within seven working days of returning to their duty station.
The school also failed to provide imprest warrants and an imprest register for all imprests issued and surrendered, according to the audit.
Previous audit reports had raised similar concerns.
For the year ended June 30, 2024, the school reported an imprest balance of Sh19.08 million, while the 2023 audit report put the figure at Sh12.36 million. The 2021 report cited an outstanding imprest balance of Sh7.78 million.
MPs demanded to know why such sums had remained outstanding and whether officers responsible had been held personally accountable.
Kiminini MP Kakai Bissau said the committee should ensure that officers who failed to manage public institutions properly were not simply transferred from one institution to another.
“I think, as this committee, we have a responsibility to ensure that we don’t just support movement of incompetency from one institution to the other,” Bissau said.
He questioned how an officer could continue serving as a principal despite similar financial concerns persisting for years.
“If it was maybe one year and then the second year, but you cannot do it nine years consecutively,” he said, describing the situation as “sheer incompetence”.
“It is our responsibility also as a committee to ensure that we flag out some of these things and some of the individuals that are incompetent and are causing this type of trouble. We can’t run Kenyan institutions like this,” he added.
Central MP Moses Kirima was particularly critical of attempts to attribute the school’s financial difficulties to rising food prices while the imprest remained outstanding.
“What does a bag of maize got to do with imprest of Sh23 million? What are you telling us?” Kirima asked.
“If you’re incompetent, you’re incompetent. If you are not fit to hold public office, you are unfit to hold public office. Address the real issues,” he added.
Sigei said the committee should pursue officers responsible for funds that had not been accounted for.
“It doesn’t matter. I think as a committee we must commit ourselves to pin down whoever was involved in this money,” he said.
Rising costs
Mayienga defended the school’s financial decisions, citing inflation and rising food prices as some of the challenges that affected budget implementation.
He gave the example of maize, saying its price could rise significantly during the financial year after the school had already prepared its budget.
“A bag of maize, for example, at the start of the budget period is costed at Sh3,600. At the end of or during the year, a bag of maize will cost Sh8,000, and you have to be able to continue to run the school,” Mayienga said.
But Kirima dismissed the explanation, saying it did not address the issue of outstanding imprest.
Narok Woman Representative Rebecca Tonkei said principals with unresolved financial liabilities should not simply be transferred to other institutions.
“Such principals should not be transferred from one institution to another because, in the first place, how could he leave a liability in another institution and go to another institution?” she asked.
She also questioned why an incoming principal should inherit liabilities incurred under a previous administration.
Ms Tonkei reminded the school’s board that it had powers to take action against staff who failed to account for public funds.
“Chair, they have powers as the board to advise TSC. It is the board that interdicts teachers,” she said.
Money recovery
The current principal, Joshua Miyawa, told the committee that the school had introduced measures to recover outstanding imprest and prevent officers with arrears from receiving additional funds.
He said the board had resolved that officers with outstanding imprest would not be authorised to undertake further official assignments until they cleared previous amounts.
“One step is that we sat as a board and agreed that if any officer is released on official function and has imprest arrears, we don’t give you another chance to move out,” Miyawa said.
He said the school had also subjected teaching and support staff with outstanding imprest to recovery measures.
Miyawa told the committee that Mayienga was not among those with outstanding imprest, having cleared his account before leaving the school.
Homa Bay High School Board chairman Macotieno Silas said the board was concerned about the school’s ballooning debts and was working with the administration to address the financial challenges.
“We are equally worried about the ballooning debts. We are dealing with it as a board,” Macotieno said.
“We are not sitting pretty, knowing that this is debt that we need to clear,” he added.
MPs order recovery
The committee directed the school to submit within two weeks a comprehensive list of all outstanding imprest holders and a strategy for recovering the money.
Maungu said officers who had left the school while still holding imprest should be pursued through their employers.
He said the committee would engage the Teachers Service Commission where necessary to ensure money owed to the school was recovered from the salaries of teachers who had failed to account for the funds.
“If an imprest is outstanding long beyond the due date, it needs to be recovered from the person’s personal emoluments from TSC,” Maungu said.
He reminded the school that the law requires temporary imprest to be surrendered within seven working days of an officer returning to the duty station.
Lunga Lunga MP Chiforomodo Mangale urged the committee to clearly apportion responsibility for the financial problems and ensure the imprest issue was prominently captured in its report.
Bomachoge Chache MP Alpha Miruka also questioned the systems in place to ensure timely recovery of imprest.
Maungu said the committee would undertake a deeper examination of the school’s debt-management strategy and financial controls.
“I want to seek deeper inquiry into the financial management of Homa Bay High School,” he said.
He said the committee could consider visiting the school to examine its records and obtain a clearer picture of how its finances had been managed.
The chairman, however, urged members to exercise some restraint, noting that the school was appearing before the committee for the first time in the current audit exercise.
“This is the first time the school is facing such an audit, and therefore we kind of be a bit lenient with them for their first encounter here. But leniency does not extend to the issue of recovery of imprests,” he said.
Maungu said the committee was concerned that the financial problems could damage the reputation of Homa Bay High School, which he described as a prestigious institution of national significance.
“How do I table a report in Parliament that Homa Bay High School is a prestigious school of national significance, yet it is entangled in things that should not be?” he asked.
The school was subsequently directed to provide the committee with details of outstanding imprest, its debt-recovery plan and measures being implemented to strengthen financial controls.
