Angry parents and students affected by the plan to go abroad for higher education due to what was claimed to be the cooperation of the Uasin Gishu county government and some universities in Finland and Canada want the plans to raise the city of Eldoret to a city to be stopped until they should be refunded the money they paid as fees related to the program.
Speaking in Eldoret on Thursday during a press conference, they regretted the failure to fulfill the promise of Uasin Gishu governor Jonathan Bii, who promised to address their plight after the devolution conference concluded last week. Koech lamented that the county government is now focusing on the campaign to elevate Eldoret to city status while their demands for the return of their funds are being ignored.
The angry students have now vowed to block city-to-city lifting efforts until they get their money back to continue their academic programs. They said the elevation of the town to city status would not do them any good but would only create opportunities for looters and fraudsters in Eldoret to continue their fraudulent schemes.
Koech who is one of the parents wants the national government and the senate committee on devolution to stop the plans of raising the town to a city. They have vowed to participate in a series of protests in Eldoret starting Monday next week to paralyze all county operations until they get their money back.
Whereas Jael Bett a student, who lost more than Sh1.2 million, expressed how his mother, a widow, sold their farm to get a chance to study in Canada. Their parents told Governor Bii to come out openly on the issue while insisting that he must be held accountable and should not take their plight to his predecessor Jackson Mandago who is facing a Sh1.1 billion saga case of those who wanted to go abroad to study.
The victims have threatened to start collecting signatures from the residents asking Governor Bii to resign if he does not help the affected students get their money. The parents led by Kimutai Kurui from the Center against Torture said that the ongoing case against Senator Mandago about the issue will not stop them from demanding their money.
At the same time, he asked the court to speed up the case against Senator Mandago about the scandal. The county government of Uasin Gishu has been blamed for not sending fees to the relevant universities, while some students missed traveling to study or those who traveled were sometimes stuck in foreign countries due to arrears of fees.
