National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi is proposing a radical reallocation of bursary funds under the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) to address a persistent shortfall in public school capitation.
Speaking during a thanksgiving ceremony in Suba South on Friday, Mbadi placed the blame for underfunding squarely on Parliament, accusing lawmakers of approving budgets that fall short of fully supporting learners in public schools.
“We disbursed the entire amount allocated in the budget, but it is still not enough,” Mbadi said. “The government policy states that each student in a day secondary school should receive Sh22,000 annually, yet our current budget only allows for about Sh17,000 per student.”He emphasized that the Treasury has never met the full Sh22,000 capitation target—even during former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration, which introduced free day secondary education after the late President Mwai Kibaki rolled out free primary schooling.
Mbadi dismissed accusations that the Treasury had failed to disburse funds, stating that all budgeted allocations had been paid out in full for Term 1 and Term 2 of 2025, and the third term disbursement was pending. He instead turned the focus back to MPs.
“You ask why the Treasury has not disbursed Sh22,000, yet you are the ones who reduced the budget. Once that is done, where do I get the extra funds?” he posed.In response to the recurring funding gap, the CS proposed a reallocation of NG-CDF bursary funds to supplement school capitation. Under current guidelines, 40 percent of NG-CDF—approximately Sh21 billion—is set aside for bursaries. Mbadi suggested pooling these funds and distributing them equally among all students.
“If we are serious about full capitation, we could use that 40 percent for topping up. Then no student would need to seek bursaries from their MP, because the government would have already paid full fees,” he said.He also called for harmonisation of bursary schemes managed by various arms of government, including NG-CDF, the Government Affirmative Action Fund (GAAF), and county governments, to ensure equitable support for all learners.
“We should consolidate all these bursary resources into one pool and distribute them equally. That way, every child in Kenya benefits the same,” he said.Mbadi further sought to dispel what he termed as misinformation surrounding the history of free secondary education in Kenya.
“People say Kibaki made secondary education free—it’s not true. It was Uhuru Kenyatta who initiated that effort, but even then, full capitation wasn’t achieved,” he said.He acknowledged that school heads often complain about delayed or incomplete disbursements, but said the issue lies in budget limitations rather than Treasury inefficiency.
“The government has always disbursed what is allocated. The gap exists because the budget is not enough—not because the Treasury has failed to release money,” he added.Mbadi said the government was exploring new ways to boost revenue and urged MPs and other stakeholders to work collaboratively with the Treasury to find long-term solutions to education funding.
“Let’s be honest. We are not yet at Sh22,000 per student. That’s a fact. We must work together to close that gap,” he concluded.