“If you did not vote you’ll not get any bursaries” – Simba Arati tells Kisii residents

Simba Arati, the governor of Kisii, on Wednesday disallowed providing school bursaries to locals who did not cast ballots in the most recent general election.

Arati declared that his administration would only give preference to those who stood up to decide who would rule them.

“We must be deliberate in all that we do from electing leaders to seeking benefits when they get to the office, if you did not vote be ready to forgo these bursaries.

The County had allocated Sh3 million in bursaries for each of the 42 Wards.

The Independent Boundary and Electoral Commission, or Iebc, register was to be used by the MCAs to prevent persons who did not vote from receiving advantages such as bursaries.

Only high school students would be eligible for the County Bursary.

College and University students would be partly funded by the Constituency Development Fund.

Arati who spoke in Masimba in Masaba South during the inspection of bursary disbursements by the MCAs, further told those residents early poached to cast votes in areas outside their areas of residence to go and apply for the bursaries from those they elected there.

The residents turned in thousands across the Wards overwhelming the few application forms made available.

There were complaints forcing the Ward Reps to petition for additional allocations.

The push for a scale-up was made by Bouse Maurura (Masimba) and Wycliffe Siocha (Ichuni) who proposed an annual Ward bursary allocation of Sh10 m in future disbursements.

“With this staggering interest, it means we must go to the drawing board and add more even if it means doing a reallocation,” said Siocha at Ekerubo where he oversaw the bursary applications.

Mairura said the Sh3 m per ward was still a drop in the ocean against the surge in the applications.

Governor Arati said the high turnout was indicative of the growing need to invest more in education.

He said he had instructed the Ward Reps to give priority to orphans, single parents and other vulnerable segments. The County allocated a total of Sh126 million across all the wards in the 2022 /2023 fiscal year.

Arati said the subsequent allocations would need to be scaled up. He said he is mulling increasing it to Sh5 million and later Sh10 m.