A section of residents in Bonchari Constituency, Kisii county have castigated their area MP Charles Onchoke over alleged discrimination in issuance of bursaries claiming it will derail the government effort towards 100 percent transition to senior schools.
Speaking at Suneka town in the constituency, the residents led by Pavel Oimeke, the former area MP, said government policy to trace grade 10 learners was futile if it was without financial support including through NG-CDF bursaries.
Oimeke claimed that the legislator was only giving bursaries to learners schooling within the constituency, while denying those learning in other areas.
Oimeke urged the current MP to review his formula so as to benefit all needy residents.
He noted that children attending national schools outside the county, and who are future leaders stood to miss out on smooth learning, if Onchoke persisted in denying them bursaries, especially after the government allocated Sh171million for the area NG-CDF, of which 40 percent is supposed to go to bursaries as per the revised CDF Act of 2023.
He appealed to the sitting MP to allocate at least Sh8000 per secondary school learner, Sh10,000 for college and Sh15,000 for university students
Another resident, Paul Mogire claimed the MP was also discriminative in allocation of resources for development of local school infrastructure.
However, speaking on phone, Onchoke denied the claims saying the bursaries were yet to be distributed to any of the beneficiaries.
He clarified that the bursary distribution exercise will start Tuesday.
By Jane Naitore
