More Than 4,000 Needy Students in Likuyani Benefit From Bursary Worth Sh 45 Million
More than 4,000 students from poverty stricken families in Likuyani constituency who were on the verge of dropping out of school and colleges due to lack of fees got a sigh of relief after the constituency office gave them a bursary cheques worth sh 45 million.
Area MP Innocent Mugabe reiterated his commitment to ensure that all the deserving cases are treated equally regardless of the marks each student scored in their national examination.
Speaking at Soy Club after holding a four hour closed door meeting with his constituents, Mugabe said the kitty will benefit only the needy and vulnerable secondary school and college students from the area.
“Since all the children belong to the government there is no need of discriminating against any of them on a count of how they scored their marks in the last year’s national exam. Mine is to ensure equity and transparency in the disbursement of the money to the targeted learners,” assured Mugabe.
He said that selection of the beneficiaries will be done at the village level to ensure that only children from poverty stricken families access the funding for their education unlike in the past where the exercise was being done at the constituency level.
The MP said the method will ensure that needy and vulnerable students are identified for financial support from the National Government constituency development fund without discrimination.
Mugabe at the same time, described as unfortunate sentiments attributed to his Soy counterpart David Kiplagat to the effect that he will deny hundreds of students from vulnerable backgrounds in his constituency from benefiting from the sh 7 million bursary fund for the political sins of their parents.
The MP has pledged to enlist the affected students in his NG_CDF bursary allocation to save them from dropping out of school and colleges.
Kiplagat had vowed that needy students from his constituency whose parents registered as voters and cast their votes in the neighboring Likuyani constituency in Kakamega County in the last general election will be locked out of the bursary fund allocation.
Without mincing his words, Kiplagat asked the parents and guardians of the affected learners to seek financial help for the children where they voted for in the last general election.
“Let me make it clear that none of the needy students from my constituency will benefit from the bursary fund allocation on account of their parent’s decision to vote in the neighboring constituency every general election in the country,” said Kiplagat.
He made the remarks at a meeting he convened at the Soy NG_constituency development fund office in Eldoret town during the disbursement of a sh 7 million cheque to help students from vulnerable families further their education across the 5 wards.
The first-time MP said that parents who do not register as voters in his constituency, he will in exchange deny their children a chance to benefit from the bursaries under the Soy NG_Constituency Development Fund.
“Some parents are crying for the decision that is not of our own but theirs. Mine is only to sympathize with the plight of their children but if they want bursary for their children, they should go and get
it where they vote in the last election,” added Kiplagat.
Kiplagat said that with his knowledge in IT, he went to the IEBC office in Soy constituency to check if the majority of parents applying for bursaries for their children are eligible voters in his area.
However, to his dismay and shock, he discovered that scores of them were residents of Soy but registered as voters in Likuyani constituency Kakamega County.
He said that the lesson he learned after going through the IEBC portal has forced him to ensure that only vulnerable students whose parents are eligible voters in his area to benefit from the bursary allocation.
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