Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has raised questions over how the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) spent Sh911.1 million on training officials in public schools, with an audit revealing that the exercise reached participants from just 34 of the country’s 290 constituencies.
The findings have cast doubt on whether the programme achieved its intended purpose, particularly as 256 constituencies were left out and the authority’s plans to extend the training to the rest of the country remained unclear.
According to the Auditor-General’s report for the financial year ended June 30, 2025, PPRA trained 9,136 stakeholders and procurement practitioners from primary and secondary schools. The exercise cost Sh911,108,000, translating to an average expenditure of approximately Sh99,713 per participant.
Despite the substantial spending, the audit found that the beneficiaries were drawn from only a small portion of the country, raising concerns over the distribution of the training and the benefits it delivered to public learning institutions.
Gathungu said the authority had not demonstrated whether sufficient arrangements were in place to ensure schools in the unrepresented constituencies would also receive the training.
“In the circumstances, the effectiveness and value for money on capacity building undertaken on primary and secondary schools at a cost of Sh911,108,000 cannot be confirmed,” Gathungu said.
The audit concern centres on whether the money spent equipped enough school officials with the skills needed to manage procurement in line with the law, especially given that the initiative was introduced to address rising cases of non-compliance in public learning institutions.
The programme followed a series of directives requiring school administrators and other officials responsible for public funds to observe procurement laws.
On November 9, 2023, PPRA issued a circular instructing head teachers, principals and other officers performing accounting officer duties to ensure that procurement procedures were followed in their institutions.
The National Treasury later wrote to the authority on October 31, 2024, directing it to begin capacity-building activities for stakeholders in public learning institutions immediately.
The instructions were intended to strengthen compliance with the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act and the regulations governing the purchase of goods and services using public funds, as well as the disposal of public assets.
In response to the directives, PPRA organised training sessions for stakeholders and procurement practitioners working in primary and secondary schools.
However, the audit found that the programme had not reached most constituencies by the end of the financial year under review. The report raised questions about whether the authority had a clear strategy to widen participation and ensure that the benefits of the exercise were available across the country.
It also did not establish whether additional training had been planned or whether funds had been set aside to cover the constituencies that missed out.
The limited reach is a key concern because school administrators and designated accounting officers are responsible for ensuring that procurement decisions comply with the law. Their duties include overseeing spending and ensuring that public resources are handled according to the established legal requirements.
The training was designed to help these officials and other practitioners understand the rules and apply them when making procurement decisions in their respective institutions.
With participants coming from only 34 constituencies, however, questions remain over whether the programme was broad enough to tackle the compliance challenges that prompted the intervention.
The findings come amid increased scrutiny of financial management in public schools, with Parliament examining cases involving additional charges imposed on parents and discrepancies in government funding records.
In September, the National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education questioned the principals of Alliance High School, Mang’u High School and Limuru Girls High School over additional fees collected without the required government approval.
Alliance High School was flagged over the collection of Sh17.6 million in additional fees.
At Mang’u High School, lawmakers questioned a charge of Sh46,082 per student under the institution’s Parent Association Support Programme, which had not received the required approval.
Limuru Girls High School also faced questions over a Sh785,946 capitation discrepancy. The difference arose from a mismatch between student enrolment records and the figures captured in the National Education Management Information System.
The cases have drawn attention to the need for public schools to comply with financial and procurement requirements when handling money collected from parents or allocated by the government.
PPRA’s training initiative was intended to improve compliance by equipping school officials with the knowledge required to follow procurement laws. However, the latest audit has left questions over whether the Sh911.1 million expenditure achieved its intended results, given the limited number of constituencies covered and the lack of clarity over plans to reach the rest of the country.