Likuyani MP Dr. Enoch Kibunguchy has criticized the decision by the County government of Kakamega to scrap the bursary kitty which is meant to help students from poor families. Addressing residents in his constituency, Kibunguchy said it is disappointing as other Counties were allocating millions of shillings towards sponsoring high school and college students to ensure they continue with their education without any problem, Kakamega County was doing the opposite.
Calling on the County Governor Wycliffe Oparanya to rescind the move, Kibunguchy said it will negatively affect the academic standard in the County arguing that those who joined secondary schools or colleges after being sponsored by the kitty will be forced to drop due to lack fees.
“Governor Oparanya should be reminded that Kakamega County is ranked among the Counties with highest poverty index in the country and scrapping out bursary will impact negatively on poor students who can’t afford to pay the fees unless the Governor wants to create a scenario where our County will be hiring services for qualified human resources from other Counties,” said Kibunguchy.
He said instead of scrapping it the County should have increased the funding to benefit more needy students. “Just recently we saw Bungoma County disbursing Kshs. 400M yet Bungoma has nine constituencies while Kakamega County has 12 constituencies. I expected our Governor to raise the figure from the usual Ksh. 120M to at least Ksh.600M so that we can have 500–1000 students benefiting from each ward,” he said. He called on the Members of the county assembly to stand firm and fight hard to ensure the kitty was factored.
