At least 11 suits have been filed before the small claims court in Nakuru, by suppliers who are demanding payment of the goods and services delivered to the various school.

In the past six months, Board of Governors of the secondary schools have found themselves battling cases in court, after schools defaulted on payment of goods and services rendered to them by suppliers.

Majority of the schools had purchased uniforms, stationeries and furniture equipment which they could not pay.

Some of the cases have been concluded with the schools forced to pay the claims while others are still pending.

Njoro Girls Secondary school is among the schools that have been sued by a supplier this year.

Peshmac Enterprises sued the school on January 22 over Sh 429,540 debt, after the school failed to pay for the goods delivered.

Lawyer Steve Imbwaga who is representing the Peshmac enterprises explained that the school had been supplied with food stuff, but could not pay even after the extension of the credit period.

“My client supplied the food stuff way back in 2020 but the school has not been able to pay for the goods even after giving them a credit extension of 30 days,” said Mr Imbwaga.

The lawyer noted that he has also written demand letters to other secondary schools, which he did not want to disclose, that still owe a number of his clients.

He noted that some of the schools have made arrangements on payment while others are yet to respond.

Molo secondary school has also been sued for sh 748,330 debt owed to a supplier Francis Macharia.

Other schools sued include AIC Mokoiywet Secondary school, by Akshar Furniture, for failing to pay furniture worth Sh 300,000. The goods were delivered on January, 20,2020.

The case was decided in November 2023 where the court ordered the school to pay the supplier Sh 293,000.

Other schools whose cases are pending before the court include Kaboru Day Secondary school, Kirima Secondary, Ekure secondary among others.

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers County Chairman Samuel Waita said a number of schools in the county are grappling with the debts which have crippled learning.

According to Mr Waita, the day schools are the ones adversely affected, since they mainly depend on the governments capitation.

“When the government fail or delay capitation on time, the schools are forced to run to suppliers for help but when the debts take time, the suppliers decide to take the schools to court,” said Mr Waita.

He revealed that some suppliers have resorted to threatening the principals over the debt, which he said has put the school heads in a precarious situation.

“We have seen letters sent to different principals in schools from suppliers who have threatened to take dire actions against the schools, making the head teachers worried,” said Mr Waita

Mr Waita noted that last year was a difficult one, since the government released money that was way below the normal capitation of Sh 22,500 per student.

This is what he said placed most head teachers at logger heads with the suppliers who had lost patience waiting for their money.

Last week, the Ministry of Education disbursed Sh 16.2 billion first term allocation for public schools in the country.

The amount is however, considered low, compared to the high number of students in public schools.

opendajoseph@gmail.com

Quest 4 Education: The scathing court battles between Nakuru schools and suppliers

Author Spotlight

Joseph Openda