In a dramatic turn of events in a Nakuru courtroom, Joel Ruto, the former director of the Education Revolving Fund in Uasin Gishu County, revealed that part of the controversial Finland scholarship funds, amounting to Ksh 520 000, had been diverted to buy expensive office furniture. This shocking admission opens Pandora’s box on how the Ksh 1.1 billion fund meant to send students to study in Finland was misappropriated.
He further testified that it was the money partly donated by parents to facilitate education of their children in Finland, which was withdrawn for a non-academic function. On August 3, 2022, Ksh 400,000 was used to purchase furniture. The money was from the Uasin Gishu Overseas Education Trust Account, money raised by contribution from the parents. “I asked for money to purchase furniture to store documents relating to the programme, which were important,” admitted Ruto.
Another withdrawal of Ksh 120,000 was done on October 3, 2022, to facilitate allowances for the Trustees of the Uasin Gishu Overseas Education Fund. The allowance ranged between Ksh 8,000 and Ksh 36,000, with Dr Joel Chelule, who is the chairman of the trustees, as the highest paid. Ruto defended the expenditure, stating that the money catered for traveling allowances for the trustees from counties such as Eldoret, Nairobi, and Kakamega.
The criminal case against Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago and county officials Meshack Rono and Joshua Lelei is about a conspiracy to steal, stealing, and abuse of office. Ruto was questioned by prosecution under Angeline Chinga on whether the withdrawal of funds meant for educational purposes was legitimate. Ruto admitted that a lack of independent funding to secretariat and trustees was the basis that necessitated use of scholarship funds on administrative expenses.
Ruto further revealed that not all the parents had paid the required fees, thus money meant for other students was diverted to cater for the expenses of the first batch in Finland. This desperate move was taken to avoid being dismissed from Tampere University.