Pauline Njoroge has come out strongly, questioning how the government can claim that funding education is unsustainable while at the same time pouring billions into wasteful and luxurious expenditures.
Her words expose a serious problem that the country is facing under Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, who seems to be presiding over financial decisions that prioritize showbiz over substance.
While parents and children are being told to tighten their belts and accept delays in school funding, the State House is spending recklessly with no sign of restraint.
State House’s recurrent expenditure has shot up from KSh 4.2 billion to a shocking KSh 11.7 billion. That is a 176% increase, and the bulk of it is being spent on luxury travel, entertainment, and political mobilization.
These are not essential needs, especially in a country struggling with unemployment, poverty, and underfunded schools, billions are being used to renovate presidential lodges just to boost comfort for a few, while thousands of schoolchildren are sitting on cold floors without books or teachers.
Even more disturbing is the so-called empowerment programme that receives over KSh 100 million every week. This programme is turning out to be a cover-up for massive corruption.
Pauline Njoroge. (Photo courtesy)
No proper audits, no clear benefits to the people just money vanishing in the name of helping hustlers.
The government is now putting up a KSh 1.2 billion church on public land. A church that not only lacks public consultation but is being built with taxpayer money while school children go hungry.
There’s also evidence of capitation funds being sent to schools that don’t even exist.
And instead of fixing such problems, millions are being spent on flying MPs around the world to cheer the government and pretend everything is okay. This is pure political theatre. These trips are not solving any real problems they are just a distraction while public resources are drained.
The worst part is how the government is openly using money to buy political support.
Leaders are being “empowered” with taxpayers’ cash, not because they have good ideas, but because their loyalty is for sale. It is now clear that the real priority of this administration is not education, not healthcare, and definitely not the people. It is about keeping the powerful comfortable, entertained, and in control.
The systematic killing of public education is not an accident. It is a decision a choice made by those in power who would rather secure their positions today than invest in Kenya’s future.
And this choice will have long-term consequences. A country that refuses to invest in its children is a country with no future. No matter how shiny the buildings or how loud the political events, history will judge those who chose comfort over classrooms and politics over pupils.
