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More than 300 parents are scheduled to record statements with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Eldoret as part of fresh investigations into allegations of fraud on the Finland education scam in Uasin Gishu county.
The parents have been instructed to record statements starting Tuesday. DCI boss Mohammed Amin has instructed that a thorough probe into the alleged scam be done by a team of officers deployed in the region.
Top county officials and political leaders are also among those expected to record statements over the matter.
The affected parents claim to have lost more than Sh300 million which they paid to the county for their children to get opportunities to study in Finland but missed out on the programme under unclear circumstances.
“All aggrieved victims are requested to present themselves at the DCI county headquarters in Eldoret, on July 18, for statement recording and other investigative procedures to bring the suspects to book,” said a statement from the DCI headquarters in Nairobi.
The affected parents have been instructed to carry along all relevant documents related to the case during their visit to the headquarters.
Last week, Senator for Uasin Gishu Jackson Mandago came out to defend himself over the Finland education scam saying he did not swindle any money from the programme.
The senator said he handed over the programme to his successor Governor Jonathan Bii’s administration with more than Sh104 million in bank accounts under the overseas education trust.
Bii had revealed earlier that the account only had Sh1.8 million with a deficit of Sh84 million. Mandago said he had been forced to come out over the matter after Bii asked him to explain what he knows about the programme.
“Let everyone carry his own cross. Those complaining should also look for the senator so that he explains what he knows because the programme was started during his tenure,” he said.
Bii spoke after angry parents last week stormed the governor’s office at Kapseret demanding a refund of the money they paid to the county to have their children go for studies in Finland.
The angry parents forced handlers of deputy governor John Barorot to cut a fence to enable him get away from the premises.
Mandago has accused Bii of failing to offer leadership to resolve challenges in the programme instead of running away. “As leaders, they didn’t have to run away from parents going to the extent of cutting a fence so that they escape,” he said.
Mandago has asked Bii to stop running away from the issue and avoiding parents who have been protesting in Eldoret demanding refund of more than Sh300 million.
More than 200 students failed to travel to Finland for studies despite paying the money through the county. Bii said he had nothing to do with the Finland and Canada overseas education programme because it was initiated by Mandago.
In response Mandago has explained that he was ready to record statements with EACC or DCI as concerns the programme if needed.
The former governor said he had initially kept quite on the matter because it had been taken over by the investigation agencies. “I have however come out through the media because the governor invited me to do so.”
Mandago produced bank statements indicating how the programme had been managed during his tenure. He challenged Bii to call for a joint meeting to resolve issues over the education programme instead of politicising the same.
He said he still believes in the programme noting that the current hitches can be resolved with all stakeholders playing their role.
Mandago said he was ready to carry the cross concerning the programme to the day he handed over office after which Bii took charge.
“If there are issues, the best thing would have been for the governor to call a meeting with me and parents so that we iron out instead of playing politics with the same.”
He said governor Bii cannot run away from the programme because he initially issued a statement admitting the county was rectifying challenges and later also suspended three officers linked to the scam.
Mandago said Bii had also travelled to Canada to follow up on the same programme. BY THE STAR