National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on the Ministry of Education, accusing it of weak leadership, political posturing, and failure to address deep-seated inefficiencies that continue to hurt learners across the country.
Speaking during an MPs’ retreat in Naivasha, Ichung’wah directly confronted Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba during a tense parliamentary session, faulting the ministry’s senior bureaucracy for what he described as a lack of competence and direction.
In unusually blunt remarks, the Kikuyu MP told the CS: “Your peers, and yourself, have the most clueless Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education.”
Ichung’wah also rejected proposals to channel education infrastructure funds through the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF), dismissing the idea fronted by Education Committee chair Julius Meli as politically motivated and ineffective in resolving long-standing structural problems within the ministry.
He argued that such a funding model ignores stark disparities in the number of schools across constituencies and undermines equitable resource allocation.
“Let us be honest with each other,” Ichung’wah said.
“Kikuyu constituency has 38 public secondary schools. Lang’ata has four. Kathiani has about 62. Saying that infrastructure money should be shared equally through NG-CDF is not leadership, it is politics. Equitable allocation is the responsibility of the ministry, guided by Parliament.”
The Majority Leader reminded MPs that education infrastructure funding falls under the oversight of Parliament’s Education Committee, adding that funding gaps within the ministry ultimately stem from parliamentary budget decisions.
He also poured cold water on claims that reallocating NG-CDF funds could bridge the ministry’s reported Sh48 billion deficit.
“If you take an average of Sh30 million from each of the 290 constituencies, that is only Sh8.7 billion,” Ichung’wah said.
“Does that solve your problem? The CS should be telling this House the truth, that it is up to the Education Committee and the Budget Committee to ensure adequate funding and equitable distribution.”
Drawing from his own constituency, Ichung’wah argued that equal sharing of infrastructure funds is inherently unjust.
“I do not need infrastructure money in my constituency, but another member here with 78 schools needs far more than I do. That member should get more, not the same,” he said.
Ichung’wah also raised alarm over what he termed entrenched corruption in schools, pointing to uniform procurement, lunch programmes, and the supply of desks and lockers as major problem areas.
He cited cases where schools within the same locality charged vastly different amounts for lunch programmes – ranging from Sh3,000 to as high as Sh9,000 – despite operating under the same ministry guidelines.
“Uniform and lunch programmes are the bedrock of corruption in our schools,” he said.
“Under your ministry, you already have a school feeding programme. Why not use those resources to ensure food is available and Gazette the maximum amount that can be charged?”
On accountability, Ichung’wah questioned how resources are monitored and utilized, recounting an instance where a school with only 189 students and 28 teachers continued to request desks despite having already received 150 through NG-CDF.
“The desks are lumped in a store somewhere. Teachers are given maintenance money, they don’t use it, and nobody takes note,” he said.
He further lamented the collapse of effective school inspection, arguing that Members of Parliament have been forced to fill the gap left by inactive ministry officials.
“You do not have inspectors doing anything on the ground. Members of Parliament have become school inspectors and that should never be the case,” Ichung’wah said.
On teacher deployment, the Majority Leader accused the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) of failing to rationalize staffing, resulting in glaring imbalances between schools.
“Why would a school with 100 students have 28 teachers, while the school next door with 600 students has none?” he asked, adding that political pressure often influences teachers to seek postings in their home areas.
Ichung’wah urged CS Ogamba to step out of Nairobi boardrooms and confront realities in schools across the country.
“Get out of your offices, go to the field, deal with the problems, then come back and challenge this House to find the Sh48 billion,” he said.
He concluded by calling on the government to make difficult but necessary policy choices in the education sector.
“We must decide whether we want to make politics out of education and make everyone happy, or do the right thing for our children,” Ichung’wah said.
