Nairobi county MCAs, led by Gatina ward representative Kennedy Swaka and Korogocho’s Absalom Odhiambo, are demanding immediate action from the county government regarding the delayed distribution of bursary funds.
The MCAs have given a 24hour ultimatum to Governor Sakaja and his administration to address the issue, threatening to mobilize all MCAs to storm COB offices if their demands are not met.
Addressing the media today, Gatina ward MCA Kennedy Swaka questioned why the county, collecting over 30 million daily, is failing to issue bursaries on time.
Swaka, who is also the vice-chair of the Education Committee, revealed that the committee had allocated Ksh 850 million for bursaries, emphasizing that the funds were ready for release.
“The Education committee has already agreed and allocated Ksh 850 million on Bursary, all forms signed. Why fail to release the money? Nairobi collects over 30 million per day on revenue collection; it can only take 6 days to get that money,” said Swaka.
According to Kennedy Swaka, the county executive had promised to allocate at least Sh7 million for bursaries to each of the 85 wards in Nairobi.
Meanwhile, Korogocho MCA Absalom Odhiambo expressed readiness to paralyze county activities if the executive fails to meet their demands.
“I will lead all the MCAs in Nairobi to the COB office to demand the bursaries. Enough is enough; that is the only development we have for parents in Nairobi, and they are always on our necks thinking it’s our failure,” stated Odhiambo.
The MCAs have issued a 48-hour ultimatum, vowing to paralyze all activities in Nairobi if the bursary funds are not released.
They emphasized the urgency of providing support to the needy, expressing concern about the difficulty in convincing their electorates about the delay.
“We cannot say that this great city is working because we are not taking our children to school. It is a sad state of affairs when money is being collected every day,” lamented Odhiambo.
The MCAs attribute the delays in bursary disbursement to alleged mismanagement of finances at City Hall, pointing out that Nairobi County declared a collection of Sh10.6 billion in the last financial year, averaging about Sh29 million per day.