Over 20,000 needy students in various secondary schools, colleges and universities from Saboti Constituency in Trans Nzoia County are set to benefit from the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) bursary.
Speaking at Tuwan Primary School during the issuance of bursary application forms, Saboti Constituency bursary Committee Chairperson Stanslus Omondi said NG-CDF patron in the cosmopolitan constituency who’s also the area Member of Parliament Caleb Amisi adopted a new model of identifying beneficiaries.
Omondi said only students whose parents are voters in 51 polling stations in Saboti and meet the threshold will get bursaries.
“Initially, we realized that every Tom, Dick and Harry from any part of this county and neighboring counties used to flock Saboti and end up receiving bursaries and because of that, with the advice of our patron MP Caleb Amisi, we issue forms to only voters of Saboti at their polling stations,” Omondi said.
Now easier to identify genuine needy cases
He further revealed that through the new model where forms are collected at the polling stations, it is easier to identify genuine needy cases through village elders and local administrators.
Some of the locals who spoke to Uasin Gishu News said the new system is very transparent and lauded the leadership of Saboti constituency for developing the system.
“You can be sure we know ourselves as voters of specific polling station and it is not possible that somebody from outside will take what is rightfully ours,” Ann Muthoni said.
Isaac Wanyonyi called on the government to increase allocation of funds to NG-CDF so that more needy students benefit from the fund.
“CDF bursary has transformed several lives, and the government should pump more money into this kitty so that we reduce cases of school dropout due to lack of school fees,” Wanyonyi said.
This comes at a time when issuance of bursary forms enter second and last day for subsequent vetting and allocation of funds to all successful beneficiaries.
