Sh5m for each constituency to set up polytechnics

Mutava Musyimi         PHOTO: COURTESY

By WILFRED AYAGA

Kenya: If things go according to the script written by Parliament’s budget committee each one of the 290 constituencies will receive Sh5 million to put up training polytechnics among other tertiary institutions.

The money will be passed on to the constituencies as conditional grants, meaning it can’t be diverted to other use, as part of efforts to address the fate of 300,000 students who are not admitted to university annually, and are forced to join the ranks of the unemployed.

With most tertiary colleges that imparted skills at certificate and diploma levels having been converted into constituent colleges - given the demand for degrees and parallel courses - thousands of youth have ended up with broken dreams after Form Four. To address the rising problem of youth joblessness, and in light of the fact that national exams are now ‘factories’ that churn out the unemployed, the committee chaired by Rev Mutava Musyimi (Mbeere South) has decided that Sh1.4 billion will be funnelled to the Ministry of Youth, for allocation to the constituencies.

The 2014/2015 Budget Policy Statement currently being debated in Parliament proposes to give county governments the funds in the form of conditional grants.

This means that the money cannot be used for any other purpose other than the establishment of the institutions. County governors will not have the power to divert the money for any other development or recurrent expenditure.  

The money proposed by Parliament’s Budget and Appropriations Committee would be shared equally among the 47 counties. The institutions will also absorb primary school dropouts.  

If the proposals are adopted, opportunities in such skills as panel beating and painting, mechanics, masonry and carpentry and even accounting, tailoring and electricity, will be boosted at the lower levels.

Mutava’s committee proposed to the National Assembly that county governments should be supported to establish the institutions.

He said the proposals had been necessitated by the failure of county governments and their chief executives to prioritise the establishment of such institutions since the enactment of the current Constitution.

“We should not be doing this for the county governments. We have been waiting for governors to show passion for the youth of this country, but they have failed. As a committee, we have decided to support them, but they have to show that they too are committed to the future of Kenyan children,” Musyimi said.

The committee has not given any provision for further funding, only suggesting that the county governments would be required to shoulder the responsibility of ensuring that the institutions function properly once they are established. 

Members of Parliament would oversee the utilisation of funds by county governments in the construction of the institutions in their various constituencies.

Mutava explained that the introduction of Free Primary Education had led to a progressive conveyance of learners who then miss out on placement in secondary schools once they complete their primary education.

“When the Free Primary Education programme was introduced, over 1.3 million children registered. However, only half of that number proceeded to Form One this year. Where did the rest of the children go,” he asked.

 “The concern of my committee is that we are not seeing enough work being done towards accommodating these children,” he told The Standard on the telephone.

The former National Council of Churches of Kenya General Secretary explained that MPs would have an oversight role in the use of the conditional grants proposed by his committee.

Governors

“Although the money for the establishment of the institutions is in the hands of governors, MPs will have the task of ensuring that it is properly utilised. We will ask them to follow it up with their governors,” he said.

The grant is similar to the one allocated to Level 5 hospitals during the last financial year.