Some 1, 894 students’ needy students in Universities, Colleges and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) from Manyatta Constituency, Embu, have received bursaries amounting to Sh. 14 million under the National Government-Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF). Under the program dubbed ‘Masomo Bila Stress’ total orphans received Sh10, 000 each, partial orphans Sh8,000, single parents’ students Sh7,000, students from very needy families Sh6,000 while those from needy families Sh. 4,000. While issuing the cheques that will be sent directly to the beneficiaries’ institutions at Embu University grounds, MP Gitonga Mukunji said the program was aimed at ensuring needy students realize their career goals. ‘We want to ensure that learners from needy families are able to pursue their education to the highest level possible without worrying about fees,’ the MP said. He at the same time decried marginalization of Mt. Kenya Region in sharing of Government resources, saying the current formula of allocating constituencies same amount was discriminative to areas with high population. ‘Some MPs from sparsely populated constituencies are able to offer full scholarship to learners whereas like here I am struggling to give a student Sh. 10, 000,’ he said. He said the onus was on the 13th parliament to ensure fairness in distribution of government resources as he pushed for ‘One Man One Shilling’ formula. ‘ ‘The number of people should determine the amount of money that a constituency or county gets because it is the people that need and use the money,’ Mukunji said.
Source: Kenya News Agency