Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. speaking during the orientation of 81 students from Makueni County who sat the 2024 KCSE and secured full scholarships from the county government to pursue studies in universities of their choice. Photo Andrew Mbuva 
By Andrew Mbuva
Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. has faulted the national government over its directive requiring parents to pay a Sh50,000 deposit before their children can benefit from reduced university fees.
He warned that the condition risks shutting out learners from poor households, the very group the policy was meant to help.
“This new directive by the national government of reducing university fees has come with many other conditions that many families will again not be able to afford. A condition like asking parents to first make a deposit of Sh50,000 will not be met by many,” Mutula said on Monday.
The governor was speaking during the orientation of 81 students from Makueni County who sat the 2024 KCSE and secured full scholarships from the county government to pursue studies in universities of their choice.
The 81 beneficiaries had earlier been supported by the county through their secondary school education.
Mutula urged the state to scrap the Sh50,000 requirement, accusing it of “double standards” that defeat the purpose of fee reduction.
“The people the government is targeting by reducing the university fees cannot afford the deposit of Sh50,000 and so the government should not play double standards with this matter. If the government is serious about lowering fees, let them do so without attaching conditions,” he said.
He further challenged the national leadership to prioritize education financing in the same way it funds mega infrastructure projects.
“As a country we should have proper plans of how children will go to school. If we can borrow money to do roads, we can also borrow and fund our education system. We should get back to those days when our university students used to get boom,” the governor remarked.
Since its inception, the Makueni County Scholarship Programme has supported 758 learners. Currently, 295 are in secondary schools while 217 are in various universities across the country.
The initiative targets bright but needy students who would otherwise have missed out on higher education opportunities.
Mutula assured the new beneficiaries that the county would continue footing their costs throughout university and provide annual mentorship sessions to prepare them for the job market.
One of the beneficiaries, Abigael Loko Mwongela, who scored an A and is set to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Clinical Medicine at Kirinyaga University, expressed gratitude for the county’s support.
“We are so proud for the support we got from the county government because they made what we saw as an impossibility possible. We promise to work hard and make them proud,” said Abigael, adding that they would one day give back to the community.
