Nyamira leaders demand audit of Sh2.7b schools projects

A row is brewing in Nyamira over Sh2.7 billion fund by the Kuwait Government to rehabilitate 72 schools in the county. 

On Monday, five elected leaders held a crises meeting with the County Commissioner Shufaa Mwinjuma and officials of the Ministry of Education and Kuwait to demand an audit of the projects.

The MPs Joash Nyamoko (North Mugirango), Clive Gisairo (Kitutu Masaba), Stephen Mogaka (West Mugirango), Patrick Osoro of Borabu and Jerusha Momanyi (Woman Rep) decried slowed implementation.

The projects are funded by the Kuwait Government as part of the relief to the community following the 2007/08 post-election violence. 

The monies were meant to help in rebuilding the learning institutions that were affected by the violence and which were used as temporary shelters for internal refugees of the chaos that rocked various parts of the country. 

Gisairo said the monies were meant to benefit the specific institution in two phases – erection of buildings and installation of school learning equipment and desks. 

"We are witnessing a very strange scenario where the phase of installation of equipment and desks is 100 per cent complete, while rooms where they were supposed to be installed are at 20 per cent complete. That is the procurement nature of our country," Gisairo said.
The works, it's understood, had become a source of controversy that rocked the Ministry of Education prior to the sacking of Julius Ogamba's successor at Jogoo House, Ezekiel Machogu.

Among the controversial issues that were believed to have informed the stalling of the works included alleged skewed contracting and lack of transparency in the manner in which the projects were to be implemented.

The government is also said to have delayed payment to contractors, a factor that led to some of the contractors walking out of the site of their works.

Even after President William Ruto launched the projects in July 2024, the works stalled, even at Kiabonyoru High School, where he officially commissioned a classroom block that would be constructed using the donor funds.

According to government procurement officers, as of the start of February 2026, works awarded to four contracts had been terminated, while four were on slowed progress, with 14 being active in their works.

Chairman of the MPs' Caucus, Joash Nyamoko, said the Ministry of Education was to blame for the stagnation of the development works and the Jogoo House administration had failed to properly lay ground for implementation of the works.

"The major error was failing to institute the project coordination and implementation unit that would be mandated with ensuring the works run smoothly. For instance, the costs of the projects may rise due to inflation. How do the contractors deal with the inflation without the projects' coordination and implementation unit?"

He also cited the move to do the pooling of contractors as a mess the ministry created.

“The ministry decided to award contractors more than one project without due consideration of efficiency to finish the works as required. "This is a setback," Nyamoko said.

At Mongoris School, no work has been done and the contractor was terminated.

At Egesieri DOK Primary School in West Mugirango, the contractor had only done the floor slab of three rooms that were meant for information communication technology (ICT) and science laboratories as well as tuition blocks.

The sight of overgrown grass covering the hedges of the floor slab and mounds of hardcore stones and gravel tells a story of work that has remained abandoned for more than a year now.

"The situation is so dire that at one of the sites in Kitutu Masaba, a contractor had demolished existing classrooms and made makeshift structures but later moved out of the project site. That is a serious problem for us leaders," Gisairo said.

Jerusha said the projects had dragged for a long time, and it would be wrong for citizens to blame the government for the situation when indeed it was the failure of some few individuals.

"We want to put the record straight that the government is ready to complete the works, but the only problem is having people who have the capacity to finish the works within the stipulated timelines," Jerusha said.

Mogaka said that the works have to be finished by the end of this year.

"As MPs, we are the ultimate receivers of the wrath of the people who have been waiting for the project for a very long time. We have to ensure the works are finished as per the plans," Mogaka said.

Following a brief engagement at the County Commissioners boardroom, the legislators agreed to conduct site visits to ascertain the situation on the ground.

Ms Mwinjuma assured them of maximum cooperation in their fact-finding mission.

"It will be important that we get facts from the ground first before we deliberate on the way forward. We will not let contractors who are not serious with their work bring us down," she said.