Uasin Gishu scholarship probe: How 3 county officials withdrew millions in cash

Investigations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) have established that three out of four public officials who had been mandated to oversee the Uasin Gishu Overseas Education Trust scholarship fund withdrew a total of Ksh.38.5 million from the account in cash.

Citizen Digital has established that the anti-graft body is now seeking to recover the said amount from the three officials; Joseph Maritim, Joshua Lelei and Meshack Rono, who were registered as signatories of the Uasin Gishu Overseas Education Trust scholarship bank account when it was opened on March 21, 2021.

Meshack Rono, the county’s Director for Education, is reported to have withdrawn the largest amount of Ksh.18, 363,689, followed by Maritim, the county’s Chief Officer Education,  who allegedly withdrew Ksh.14,486,700 from the account while Lelei, the Chief officer, Vocational Training, withdrew Ksh. 5,683,400.

“The Commission is pursuing the Ksh.38,533,789.00 that was withdrawn in cash in Kenya by the signatories of the Uasin Gishu Overseas Education Trust,” reads the documents.

Between May 2021 and December 2022, the account is said to have received a total of Ksh.837,855,889 from 111 students who travelled to Finland to pursue different courses at different universities and colleges. The learning institutions were supposed to be paid from the Uasin Gishu Overseas Education Trust Scholarship bank account.

Out of Ksh.837,855,889 collected, records show that Tampere university received Ksh.113,750,634 while the rest received amounts as follows; JAMK University (Ksh.657,500), Northernlights University (Ksh.5,023,480), Elimu University (Ksh.3,249,220), LUT University (Ksh.6,552,000), SCI Stenberg (Ksh.7,570,500), Edu Excellence College (Ksh.145,816,300) and Eton College Vancouver (Ksh.2,196,000).

With respect to the funds that were transferred to Finland, EACC says it is undertaking “an in-depth and extensive investigation to ascertain whether the money reached the institutions or was embezzled.”

The preliminary findings further indicate that the County Government of Uasin Gishu had no allocation for oversees scholarship, but an MOU was signed between the County Government and Tampere University of Finland to offer scholarship opportunities to students/parents who are willing and able to meet the total cost of their studies.

"The parents were to deposit the school fees and other fees to the trust account and the signatories were then expected to transfer the money to Tampere University of Applied Sciences," documents seen by Citizen Digital indicate.

The program was intended to sponsor students to further their tertiary studies in Finland between 2021 and 2022.

The program however became a subject of public scrutiny after it emerged that a number of the students who flew to Finland had already been deported back to Kenya while some have received notice of deportation for the failure of paying school fees despite depositing money into the trust account as required.

Uasin Gishu governor Jonathan Bii has since suspended officials adversely mentioned in the scholarship mess even as he assures that the stalemate will be resolved to ensure continuity of learning for the students.