A new audit by the Office of the Auditor-General has exposed delays and poor handling of bursary funds in several constituencies, where millions of shillings meant for learners were left uncollected, leading to expired cheques and disruption of school attendance.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu reports that five constituencies failed to process bursary cheques valued at Sh722.64 million within the required time, leaving many students without timely financial support despite having been awarded assistance under the NG-CDF bursary and scholarship programme.
The audit for the 2024/25 financial year indicates that the delay in presenting the cheques to banks led to their expiry, a situation that forced affected learners to miss classes after being sent home for lack of fees.
“The failure to present the cheques to the banks and the resultant stale cheques resulted in loss of learning time by beneficiaries, as learners were sent home for school fees, despite having been awarded the bursaries,”the audit report states.
Narok West recorded the largest amount of unpresented cheques at Sh218.79 million under Gabriel Tongoyo, followed by Kaiti led by Joshua Kimilu with Sh201.63 million.
Kilgoris under Julius Sunkuli had Sh138 million, while Gichugu led by Gichimu Githinji reported Sh86.44 million. Ganze under Kenneth Kazungu had Sh77.82 million in stale cheques.
Beyond the five constituencies, the audit also uncovered additional stale cheques worth Sh14.2 million spread across different years and areas. Embakasi Central led by Benjamin Gathiru had Sh4.4 million for 2024, while Embakasi South under Julius Mawathe recorded Sh3.6 million for 2025. Mwea led by Mary Maingi had Sh2.8 million from 2021, Kasarani under Ronald Karauri had Sh2.5 million from 2023, and Kibwezi East associated with Jessica Mbalu had Sh980,000 also from 2023.
The report further notes weaknesses in how expired cheques were handled, pointing out the absence of clear procedures guiding how beneficiaries of reissued bursaries are selected, which left constituency committees with wide discretion.
In some cases, including Mwea and Embakasi South, auditors found that reissuance of stale cheques was done through informal requests rather than through formal applications or proper verification of need.
“based on verbal requests made to the NG-CDF offices, without supporting application forms or vetting of applicants’ need or vulnerability”.
The audit also faulted the NG-CDF board for not enforcing rules requiring that cheques be issued directly to beneficiaries, saying the lack of strict oversight contributed to the accumulation of stale bursary payments.
Although constituency offices attributed the issue to beneficiaries or guardians misplacing cheques, auditors maintained that insufficient awareness on cheque validity periods played a role in the problem.
The findings point to gaps in management, accountability, and communication within the bursary disbursement system, raising concerns about delays in supporting vulnerable learners across affected constituencies.
