Relief for Lurambi needy learners as fund disburses double bursary
Students in secondary and tertiary institutions from Lurambi Constituency who applied for the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) bursaries can sigh in relief after the committee began to clear a pending Sh16 million bill.
With NG-CDF accounts closure dependent on the end of the current parliament term just three months away, it is a race against time for the local CDF committee, which must process a further Sh24 million in bursary payments in just two months.
The committee patron, Lurambi MP Bishop Titus Khamala has detailed the committee to process the Sh40 million bursary pending bill by May so the school fees subsidy for academically gifted students from disadvantaged backgrounds in secondary and colleges is not stuck at the national treasury.
Clear pending bill
The Sh40 million, he observed, includes the delayed Sh16 million for the 2020/21 bursary and Sh24 million in the current bursary budget that must be disbursed to school accounts by May, while parliament is still in session.
Out of the total amount of Sh40 million, Sh16 million is expected to clear a bursary pending bill for the past financial year and Sh24 million that is budgeted for the current year.
The local CDF sub-committee on bursaries headed by Mathias Shichele released the first payment of Sh10 million to day schools last week.
The delayed bursary had become a political tool heading into the August poll with many families saddled in financial straits carrying forward huge school fee balances into the new academic year.
“I know this has taken long, but please accept my apologies. This was not our making. We also depend on the national treasury and conditions set by the NG-CDF board.
We budgeted for bursary and processed the lists of beneficiaries, but the funds weren’t forthcoming,” Khamala said as he released the final payments for 2020/21 bursary late last month.
He said the NG-CDF committee has temporarily stopped payment of other supply contracts to make disbursement of the 2021/22 bursary a top priority before reopening of schools, adding bursary forms were available at the local NG-CDF office for fresh application for the 2021/22 bursaries.
The bursary allocation for the 2021/2022 financial year significantly increased by Sh4 million compared to the previous year’s Sh20 million reflecting a three per cent jump to 16 per cent. The NG-CDF Act allows the constituency committees to allocate up to 30 per cent of the total annual NG-CDF allocation currently standing at Sh37 million, as education bursary.
“The education bursary budget for this year is Sh24 million. We hope to capture more deserving students and perhaps to also raise the minimum amount a student should get as school fees relief from our kitty,” the MP announced.
Parents whose children interviewed after the announcement welcomed the release of the bursary cheques terming it long overdue. “I feel relieved that finally the fee burden will be lighter next term when the subsidy is credited to the fee account.,” John Inganga whose son is in Form Three at Ikonyero Secondary School said.
“As a parent, this announcement comes with relief. Though this term is already ended, the cheques will either offset the fees balances for some or credit the fees account,” Inganga observed.
Arnold Andati, a parent in a local university, also welcomed the news saying the release of bursary comes at a time he was experiencing pressure to clear Sh10,000 his daughter owes the college in tuition fee arrears. University students are expected to sit their end of semester exams in April.
Andati recalled, “You know that no bursary was given out for the 2019/20 financial year even though students in university paid fees and continued with virtual classes, the ravages of Covid-19 notwithstanding. Bursary for 2020/21 was severely delayed until now and this posed a huge financial burden to families.”
Speaking at Sheywe Secondary School during a brief ceremony to hand over the bursary cheques, Khamala explained that the CDF board approved the reallocated the 2019/20 bursary towards construction of infrastructure in schools after the disruption of the school calendar.
Constraints by Treasury
He blamed delays in the release of the 2020/2021 bursary on the national treasury. “We really wanted to settle the bursary immediately after shortlisting the beneficiaries, but the Treasury constrained us. To date we are owed Sh28 million of the 2020/21 allocation of Sh138 million,” he said.
He went on, “Every shilling received is budgeted for and the NG-CDF board undertakes the audit of the projects and funds. In due course we shall advertise the 2021/22 bursary. We hope to process the payments before schools reopen, I don’t want school fees cries to distract the campaigns. This will not be a political tool.”
Lurambi received a total of Sh138 million as NG-CDF cash for the 2020/21 fiscal year according to records on the NG-CDF website. Sh20 million of the funds was allocated for bursary, accounting for about 13 per cent.
A notable feature of the 2020/21 Lurambi CDF bursary was that all applications by secondary day scholars were considered and Sh4,000 paid as tuition “The bulk of bursary funds and beneficiaries in the 2020/21 were students in our day schools,” Khamala noted.
He said the cosmopolitan nature of the constituency-partly urban and partly rural was a boon in the distribution of bursary as non-Lurambi voters have had inadvertent access in the past.
