Chepalungu Mp Isaac Rutto gestures during a past press conference Chepalungu students protest CDF cash bias MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2011 - 00:00 -- KIPLANG’AT KIRUI AND GILBERT KIMUTAI Chepalungu university students yesterday held a demonstration protesting against biased allocation of bursary money by their CDF managers. The 30 students walked peacefully to the DC’s office in Sigor town. But their demonstration was cut short by the district officer Alex Kaburu. Spokesmen Gilbert Ngetich and Geoffrey Chepkwony said the area CDF only allocates a paltry Sh5,000 to each student. Ngetich alleged that names of some students are often locked out by the officials. “We have suffered for too long and we can no longer persevere. We want the officials to change the way they distribute funds,†said Ngetich. He wondered why the situation should be so in Chepalungu while other constituencies treated their students better and allocate higher amount of money. He said the situation in Chepalungu will compromise education standards in the area. “We are afraid many bright students might drop out of university because of malicious behavior by the CDF officials, he said. Ngetich alleged that while the CDF officials denied genuine students money, they however allocated hefty funds to ghost students. “It is surprising to see names of students who have completed their studies in the list of beneficiaries. They are using names of students who are no longer in universities as rubber stamp to justify their fishy deals,†added Ngetich. Chepkwony said officials delay reimbursing the CDF kitty in a bid to make them think the money they get was a favour. Responding to their grievances, DO Alex Kaburu urged protesting students to follow right channels to air their grievances. He said his office is yet to receive any complaints on the matter. Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto dismissed the protests saying there was no discrimination and favourism in the distribution of funds in the constituency. Ruto said the mandate to distribute the fuunds fall within committees in various sub-locations and locations who know which students are needy. He said the same committee decides what amount of money is allocated to needy students.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 02:58:06 +0000