Jogoo house wars: Who's in charge?

Education sector is sinking in deep maze of confusion as the top leadership - Cabinet Secretary and his two Principal Secretaries - speak at cross purpose.

Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba appears increasingly sidelined by his two Principal Secretaries, in the ensuing quiet power struggle playing out at the Ministry of Education.

Ogamba, Basic Education PS Julius Bitok and University Education PS Beatrice Inyangala seem to be pulling in different directions, creating confusion and undermining the critical sector.

This has left parents, teachers, university students and other education stakeholders in confusion as they get conflicting communication from the ministry top leadership in what is shaping into turf wars.

And the fights have now drawn the ire of MPs who have called the ministry leadership to order.

Luanda MP Dick Maungu last week warned that PSs must remember they serve under a CS and not the other way around.

“We cannot have PSs that are acting as if they are bigger than CSs. The PS (Julius Bitok) should have been here. Where is your PS?” Maungu asked Ogamba, when he appeared before the National Assembly Education Committee.

The July 31 session was chaired by Eve Obara, Kabondo Kasipul MP.

Even though CS Ogamba explained that the Committee’s invite had only been addressed to him, and as such, the PS was not obligated to attend, his frustrations were evident.

The CS was accompanied by dozens of other top ministry officials and agency heads. 

Ogamba further explained that Prof. Bitok was attending a performance appraisal meeting, the deadline for which fell on the same day.

The absence of the PS raised eyebrows among lawmakers, who questioned the apparent disjointedness in the ministry’s leadership.

MPs expressed concern that Principal Secretaries are increasingly acting with autonomy—often overshadowing the Cabinet Secretary.

But that was one week ago.

Speaking from different scripts

Yesterday, the discord resurfaced, this time over the revised university fees guidelines. PS Inyangala had directed that the changes take effect from September 1, while CS Ogamba announced an earlier date of August 15.

In a circular dated July 30, Inyangala directed that tuition fees be reduced by between 15 and 40 per cent for both continuing and new students, with implementation beginning on September 1.

“Public universities are hereby directed to adopt the new fees schedule, effective September 1, 2025… Public universities are further directed to update their admissions and finance portals to reflect the revised fees of academic programs,” she said. 

But speaking just days later, CS Ogamba said the new fee guidelines would take effect on August 15.

“We have not entered it (new fees) in the portals, in fact I had said it will be effective from August 15,” Ogamba said, explaining that the ministry was still synchronising the figures to be reflected on university portals before publishing them.

Vice chancellors who spoke to The Standard said that the impact of turf wars at Jogoo House is creeping into institutions of higher learning.

“It is true that there is a problem at the ministry and the top leaders do not seem to be speaking from same page. In most cases even the stakeholders are not consulted and decisions made fromone office seems not endorsed by another,” a VC of a public university said.

Another contradiction emerged regarding the controversial issue of “ghost schools” recently unearthed by the Auditor General.

On July 17, PS Bitok dismissed an Auditor General’s report that flagged Sh3.7 billion in capitation funds allegedly lost to ghost students. 

He cited inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the report and indicated that the ministry would review it. 

“I cannot confirm that there are any ghost schools. What I can confirm is that there was a special audit done by the Auditor General. As Ministry of Education, we did not get to cross check the facts because there was inconsistency in the special audit, such as some schools which we know very well such as Mangu there are no student. Alliance there are no students,” Bitok said.

However, on July 23, while appearing before the National Assembly committee on Education, CS Ogamba acknowledged the report and indicated that the Ministry is reviewing the Auditor’s report and noted that investigations were underway.

“Money going to schools that do not exist, that is a criminal offense, it is not something that anybody can defend and if that has happened then we will pass the information to DCI. It is a criminal offense and I say this because when you disburse money to a school, you do not send it to a school but to an account. This account is signed for by somebody, so that is where the investigation needs to start,” Ogamba said.

He further indicated that the ministry will furnish the MPs with a list of schools that receive capitation and hinted on visiting the schools to ascertain whether they exist or not.

Union officials on Monday urged the ministry leadership to embrace consultation for coordinated communication.

“That is why we have called for national conversation and policy on education.

So that when we speak, it is in sync,” Kenya Union of Post Primary Education (Kuppet) secretary general Akello Misori said.

He said that, for example, the ministry is yet to provide accurate data on learners in public schools in the country that can form basis for budgetary allocation.

“But PS has left the CS to fumble on such data, yet he is the technocrat. We cannot force them to work in harmony. But they must be coordinated.

They should also work in sync with National Treasury so that they don’t confuse the public. The balancing act must work. For now it is not balancing and that is the major disconnect we see,” Misori said.

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary general Collins Oyuu said that the ministry officials must speak in one voice.

“For the success of the sector there must be consultation from all ends. When you get contradicting information from senior officers, it doesn’t auger well. The sector needs consultation, and as Knut we embrace wider consultation,” said Oyuu.

He added: “We need a working sector that thrives on total consultation. We are ready to hold dialogue with ministry officials to give them ideas on what is on the ground and to give them accurate information.”

The funding of free education in public schools has also unearthed contrasting positions by PS and the CS.

PS Bitok recently reassured the public that the government remains fully committed to the policy and that the government has provided funds to fully support the free primary and free day secondary education.

“I want to assure the country that the policy of free primary and secondary education has not changed. The government will continue financing education through capitation as it has been through all the years. There is no change,” he stated.

But on July 27, both CS Ogamba and his Treasury counterpart John Mbadi indicated that the budget allocation to the two programmes was not enough.

Mbadi went on to declare that the government is in no position to support free education.

“Under the government policy, the amount that we are supposed to give per student in senior school is Sh22,244, but because of budgetary constraints we have not been able to meet that target. So based on the amount that is budgeted for, and distributed among the number of students that we have, it comes down to Sh16,900,” he said.

In yet another policy contradiction, PS Bitok and CS Ogamba clashed during the launch of the Competency-Based Education (CBE) programme on April 25. 

Bitok, who moderated earlier speakers before the CS took the podium, stated that there was no need to force students to pursue Mathematics in senior school.

This aligns with earlier guidelines by the ministry that Mathematics would not be a compulsory subject under the CBC curriculum.

However, when CS Ogamba took the stage moments later, he contradicted Bitok’s position, revealing that the ministry had since backtracked. 

“Mathematics will be compulsory,” Ogamba said, clarifying that students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) pathways would undertake the traditional complex mathematics, while those in the Arts and Sports Science tracks would take a simplified version,” he said.