The Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (JKF) will scale down to providing scholarships with minimum activities on publication.
This emerged as the Parliament Investment Committee (PIC) urged the state-owned publisher to merge with Kenya Literature Bureau to avoid duplication of duties.
Speaking when he appeared before the committee at Parliament on Wednesday, the PIC chairman Jack Wanami said the parastatal has proved insolvent, and there is no need of holding on.
"Why are you duplicating roles here when Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) is also doing the same role? Can we fold one and leave one strong entity that will deliver," Wanami said.
He added: "Why don't we allow only one entity which will be very aggressive."
JKF chief executive David Mwaniki said the poor performance was brought about by failure to get funding from the government and also inability to get tenders from the state.
"The foundation's financial performance decreased in the year under review due to the decline in turnover attributed to change in government policy in book industry," Mwaniki said.
Purchasing one book per subject and end-to-end delivery by publishers which was previously borne by booksellers has been opened for private printers after JKF failed in its mandate to deliver to the public.
Kiminini MP, Maurice Kakai however accused JKF of the poor financial status.
"You had a monopoly and you dropped the ball on the quality and quantity and were unable to meet timelines. This is the reason why the state opened up to competition," Kakai said.
Wanami wondered how the foundation was unable to get tender from the state when board members include state officers.
"On your board, you have former Treasury CS, Henry Rotich, former Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, and Education PS, Belio Kipsang among others. Why are they not supporting you?" he asked.
JKF said the government procured a tender of Sh1.3 billion towards Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) for grades five and six in the year 2018.
Mwaniki said, based on the present financial situation the government is planning on making the foundation a sole entity of scholarships to learners hence scaling down its operation in publishing.
"Plans are in place to scale down on publishing as we embark on full scholarship provision but downscale on the later," he said.
The CEO was at pains to explain the variance in scholarships that were provided to learners during the period.
"The appropriation fund on scholarships is not an expenditure. It's a movement of provision on estimate as the scholarship was provided in previous years," he said.
Sh10,020,000 was scholarships applied for in the year, however, it emerged that Sh11,549,366 was withdrawn. This leaves unexplained Sh1,529,366.
The legislators then want to be provided with names of beneficiaries, admission numbers, and schools which money was paid to.
The report also showed an unexplained variance of Sh18,000 from scholarships applied for as Sh10,038,000.
But JKF explained that Sh69,825 were bank charges and a bounced cheque of Sh23,000 which were considered as fees paid.
The meeting also learned that Sh16,855,000 in respect of the scholarship fund account could not be confirmed which differed with the scholarships bank account balance of Sh3,674,222 leading to an unexplained Sh13,180,778 for 2021.
JKF said at the fund had a balance of Sh23, 875 at the beginning of the year, with Scholarships appropriation of Sh24 million while scholarships paid was Sh10.02 million.
