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A requirement of having Sh541,000 alleged Pathway Course Fees stopped over 180 students in Uasin Gishu County from going to Finland for studies, a court has heard.
Under examination of Prosecutors Lenna Wanga and Angeline Chinga, parents of some of the students testified Tuesday before Senior Principal Magistrate Peter Ndege.
They told the court that they came to realise they were to pay the Pathway Course Fees, a year after paying Sh1.17 million fees for the Finland programme.
They were testifying in a case where Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago is charged with misuse of Sh1.1 billion Finland Education Programme funds.
Mandago is charged alongside county officials Meshack Rono and Joshua Lelei. They are accused of conspiracy to steal, stealing and abuse of office.
Salina Cherono, a Uasin Gishu County official testified that she paid Sh918,000 as fees for her son Jim Clinton Kibet aged 30.
“On February 25, 2022 I paid Sh520,000 and on February 26, 2022, I paid the remaining Sh398,000 for my son, to the Uasin Gishu Overseas Education Fund,” Cherono said.
She told the court that at that time, she believed the Sh918,000 was enough for her son to be airlifted to Finland, where he was going to study nursing at Porvoo Campus under Laurea University in Finland.
She said that on July 19, 2022, her son started a three-month course which was later revealed to her as the pathway course.
“In the course taught online and at Rift Valley Technical Training Institute in Eldoret, my son along with others were taught Finnish language along with other skills to ensure his studies in Finland are smooth,” she testified.
However, Cherono said she was asked to pay Sh79,000 more for Visa-Sh49,000 and Insurance Sh30,000, which she paid on May 17, 2022.
After the payment, Cherono said she was told to wait because the programme was in the pipeline.
On May 9, 2023, Cherono said she wrote a letter to the Overseas fund to withdraw her son’s interest and claim her refund.
“I demanded Sh997,000 from the county government, which I paid for my son only to be informed that I needed to pay Sh541,000 more to facilitate his travel. I was not aware of the pathway fees. To date the money has never been refunded,” she said.
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