More national schools face MPs over audit queries

National Assembly Pubic Investment Committee on Governance and Education(PIC-G&E) Chairman Luanda MP Dick Maungu during committee sitting at Parliament on September 15, 2026[Boniface Okendo, Standard]

More secondary school principals are scheduled to appear in the National Assembly this week to respond to audit queries, as financial management in national schools is put under scrutiny.

The National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education has lined up six more schools to respond to queries arising from Auditor-General reports covering four financial years.

A schedule released by the committee shows Moi Forces Academy, Precious Blood Riruta, Our Lady of Mt Carmel Mary Hill Girls Nyeri High School, Thika High School and Kahuhia Girls as among those expected to appear this week.

They are to respond to audit queries raised covering Financial Years 2021/2022 to 2024/2025, and are expected to provide explanations and supporting documents for queries raised against them.

The committee, chaired by Luanda MP Dick Maungu, began the exercise with Cluster 1 schools formerly known as national schools and are expanding to other public secondary schools.

Maungu underscored the need for the exercise, saying it seeks to ensure school administrators understand that public schools are subject to the same accountability requirements as other public institutions.

He insisted that the scrutiny was anchored in Parliament’s constitutional oversight mandate and the need to ensure that public resources allocated to education are properly managed.

He said the exercise is meant to establish whether schools are managing public resources in accordance with the law.

“For the first time in this country, this committee will be taking on the books of high schools. Going by the Constitution, the Public Finance Management Act and the Public Audit Act, it is very important that this committee, which is in charge of governance and education, examines the reports of the Auditor-General,” he said.

This came amid the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu dismissing integrity claims raised against their staff by some schools, saying that any alleged misconduct should also be reported to the relevant investigative agencies, including the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for investigation in accordance with their independent Constitutional mandate.

She explained that her office started auditing schools as Independent External Auditors for the financial year 2022/2023 and have since flagged out several issues on the keeping of financial records, funding of schools, enrollment records, expenditure management, risk management and compliance with laws and regulations in the use of public resources.

“These issues have prominently formed public discourse after Parliament commenced discussions on the audit reports of schools, three weeks ago,” Gathungu said in a statement.

“We urge School Heads to respond to the audit findings in our reports, as other public entities have been doing, and desist from deflecting attention from the audit issues raised, which, if well resolved, would enable them to manage the schools more efficiently and effectively in support of the education needs and aspirations of the learners and the country,” she added.

She insisted that no public entity is exempted from accountability, transparency and good governance on the use and management of public resources.

“The role of the Auditor-General remains auditing on the use and management of public resources and reporting to Parliament and County Assemblies, and by extension the citizens they represent, on our findings and recommendations,” she explained.

The hearings are part of a parliamentary audit of public secondary schools that has already exposed various issues including extra levies charged to parents, school borrowing, payments to the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KSSHA), procurement, textbook distribution, fee arrears, investments and weaknesses in financial controls.

As far as extra levies are concerned, a number of principals said the allocation of Sh53,000 per learner is inadequate to meet the activities of the schools, coupled with high inflation rate.

But the principals told MPs that the levies are charged with the support of parents, which mainly goes to maintaining enhanced diets and meeting co-curricular activities.

With the arising issues, the committee has also indicated it will engage with Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba on whether the fees set remains realistic or whether a review is required.

“We need to have a serious discussion with the CS of Education on this matter because we see that it is a challenge across the board. The question we are asking  is the Sh53,000 they are charging is realistic given inflation?” Maungu posed.

For instance, Kenya High School Principal and Alliance High School told the committee that additional charges were made following the parents’ request to maintain the standards of the most sought after learning institutions in the country.

For instance, Kenya High Chief Principal, Reverend Edith Koech told the committee that some additional charges were introduced following requests from parents for enhanced services.

“Kenya High has its standards; for instance we have tea three times a day and they eat githeri once, they will burn the school if we change. There are times when parents themselves ask that we include the charges in our budget. Some are for special meals which, if we remove, the students can burn the school,” Koech said.

At the school, parents pay an additional Sh25,000 above the set amount per student, without approval from the county education board.

On its part, Alliance High School  Chief Principal David Kamau admitted they have had to seek alternative funding but insisted that the proposal comes from parents, which has seen them pay an additional Sh15,000.

 “We have a certain lifestyle we have to maintain and that is why parents came in; in fact, it was their idea, and asked us to maintain that. They came in and suggested they can do a budget support so that we maintain the same standards. For us, to acquire the results, we have to do a lot of activities to make sure we give a holistic education associated with the school over the years,” he explained.

But the MPs insisted that public institutions must comply with the law regardless of the intentions behind expenditure.

Similarly, the committee warned that school heads could ultimately be held personally liable for expenditure found to have been incurred without the necessary approvals.

Another contentious issue has been public schools paying KSSHA, most of which goes to school activities, with the MPS now seeking an explanation on the legal basis of receiving such monies.