A clause for bursary disbursement qualification has been sneaked in by Kisii elected leaders linking would-be beneficiaries to where the parents-cum-guardians voted in the August 9 2022 polls.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) register was being invoked to exclude bright needy children from the fund whose parents or guardians did not vote in the wards they resided.
This puts on the spot the objective of the public money meant to assist the needy children some of who were total, or partial orphans or from poor family backgrounds.
The implication of the move also is to deprive taxpayers of their constitutional right of access to government services by virtue of their regional /political affiliation.
Presiding over applications for bursary disbursements in various wards governor, Simba Arati told those who had not voted in their respective wards to forget about the receipt of the education assistance.
He announced the enhancement of the mount’s kitty from the current Ksh. 3 million per ward in the next financial year to Ksh. 5 million.
The governor urged Masimba MCA Bouse Mairura, to use the voting register in identifying the bursary beneficiaries and mobilize residents to honor their tax obligations.
Mairura clarified the potential beneficiaries of the bursary and stressed the need for the fund’s increment in the future.
But Ichuni MCA, Wycliffe Siocha, speaking at Ekerubo during a similar exercise said he had distributed the application forms according to polling stations and singled out Keroka town for special treatment owing to its cosmopolitan population.
He predicted an increment of the disbursements to Ksh. 10 million within the impending two electoral terms to be served.
BY MUSA MARANGA