VTCs in Siaya County are likely to be shut down due to a serious shortage of resources. Managers of these institutions have expressed their frustration by pointing accusing fingers at the County Government of Siaya for not disbursing enough funds. As a result, there is non-payment of bills and failure in the management of the centers.
Managers have now threatened, through their caucus, that they may not reopen the institutions for the third term if the situation does not improve. A lack of adequate funding has made operation of the centers nearly impossible.
According to one of the irate managers, the county government has always defaulted on remitting the promised capitation. The county is supposed to offer Ksh15,000 per trainee like their national government counterparts. They offered Ksh6,000 for the 2022/2023 financial year, and the latest was a flattened rate of Ksh100,000 for the whole year, which is meager to run such institutions.”
Managers also complained of understaffing in all the 30 VTCs in the county. Though the centers have a total of 352 instructors, the county government has only employed 24 since devolution. Out of the 328 instructors left behind, the incompetent Boards of Governors manage most of them, thus leaving the centers struggling with inadequate leadership and decision-making.
The situation in VTCs in Siaya County is bad, and the future is literally hanging in the balance unless something is done immediately.