Uasin Gishu county disowns multi-billion overseas education programme, terms it a sham

The County Government of Uasin Gishu, led by Governor Jonathan Bii, has disowned the Finland and Canada Education Programme, terming it a sham and a conspiracy to defraud parents.

Edwin Bett, who served as the County Secretary between 2019 and 2024, said that the programme was not run by the County government but by trustees under the Department of Education and Youth Affairs.

He testified before Senior Principal Magistrate Peter Ndege, against Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago and County officials Meshack Rono and Joshua Lelei.

Mandago and his co-accused persons face 10 counts of conspiracy, theft, abuse of office, and forgery, leading to the alleged loss of Sh1.1 billion in the overseas programme, paid by parents when he was the Governor.

According to Bett, when the new government came in August 2022, parents raised complaints in the overseas programme.

“They complained about alleged fraud by the county leadership and delays in their children’s overseas travels.

In December 2022, a task force was formed to investigate the programme, and I was among the members,” testified Bett.

He said that after over a year of investigations, they discovered that the programme was not approved by the county’s executive.

When cross-examined by Lawyer Katwa Kigen, on behalf of seven of the victims, Bett said that they discovered that parents were paying money to an account dubbed Uasin Gishu Overseas Trust Account.

Although he failed to produce the letter, Bett said that the county government wrote to the bank to get statements but they were denied because the account was being run by six trustees.

He noted that at some point, money paid by parents of students in Kenya, was used to pay for students who had already travelled abroad as the first cohort but he was not involved.

“The taskforce was unable to establish who made the decision for the money paid by parents in Kenya, to be transferred to students abroad. It was not the decision of the county government,” Bett denounced.

He said that the trust and the trustees were not created by the county government and the government, through his office, did not approve the same.

“I could not ask for the bank statement as the County Secretary because I was not a signatory,” he testified.

Further, Bett testified that neither the County Executive Committee or the Chief Officer in charge of finance were signatories to the account.

Bett said that for the programme, trust and the account to run, it needed to be approved by the County Assembly, but he did not write any letter or communication to the assembly.

He explained that for the programme to be described as a county programme, it needed a budget, executive approval and legislation, but the programme lacked the same.

However, when cross examined by defence Lawyers Fidel Limo and Elijah Kibet, Bett admitted that there was an act supporting the existence of the overseas programme.

The act, he testified, was enacted in 2022, despite the programme starting way back in 2021.

In addition, Bett testified that when he handed over bank accounts from the previous government to the new one, he did not hand over the overseas account, because the same was not owned by the county.

“I handed over many accounts. The overseas account was not part of the accounts I handed over to the new government,” he testified.

Moreover, Bett testified that the programme was not supported by the Public Finance Act which was supposed to govern the accounts and ensure the same are audited.

When they got the details, Bett said they advised the new Governor Jonathan Bii to abandon it, stop deposits into the accounts and allow further investigations by the authorities.

“We also advised parents to use a separate account. We opened 11 accounts and some of the parents were signatories. We wanted to ensure we regain the trust lost by the parents,” he said.

Further, Bett testified that then Deputy Governor John Barorot, who chaired the taskforce, started engaging the universities in Finland and Canada to allow parents to pay their money directly to them.

Bett, however, admitted that the county owned the programme as an alleged precaution to ensure they save the parents from losing money.

He said that they did not discover misappropriation of funds, forgery or abuse of office in their investigations, but recommended investigative bodies to probe the matter.

The case continues today (Thursday).