How Education ministry official created ghost secondary school, pocketed Ksh.11M from Gov't

How Education ministry official created ghost secondary school, pocketed Ksh.11M from Gov't

File image of EACC headquarters at Integrity Centre in Nairobi.

An official at the Ministry of Education is under scrutiny for allegedly creating a non-existent secondary school and pocketing over Ksh.11 million meant for running the said institution from the government.

The suspect, a clerical officer based at the ministry’s Nairobi headquarters, is said to have listed the non-existent school as located in Kakamega County and accommodating 1,188 students.

The officer then added the 'ghost' institution to the list of secondary schools which received funds from the government for Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) funds.

According to a report by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the officer opened a personal account at Equity Bank which was credited with Ksh.11,131,305.53 FDSE funds between August 22, 2017 and June 18, 2018.

The officer’s dealings were uncovered when publishers contracted by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) could not trace the school on the ground while distributing the text books,” said EACC.

EACC has established that the officer is an employee of the Ministry of Education, having been employed in the year 2010 and deployed to Khwisero Sub County- Kakamega County as a clerk.

The suspect is said to have spent about Ksh.2.5 million of these proceeds to purchase a vehicle, which was later however repossessed by the dealer upon request by the commission.

EACC said it was then able to recover Ksh.1.9 million from the dealer after factoring in depreciation.

The suspect is also said to have bought two parcels of land at approximately Ksh.1.8 million, besides withdrawing the remaining sum of approximately Ksh.7 million in cash on diverse dates.

The commission said investigations into the corruption scheme are at an advanced stage, further firing a warning shot to other officials engaging in similar acts that their days are numbered.

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EACC Corruption Ministry of Education

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