Uasin Gishu Student Takes On County Leadership Over Scholarship Row: “Smooth Tongue, Soft Face But Lying”

• Uasin Gishu county leadership held a sit-in with parents and students affected by the controversial scholarships
• The affected groups were up in arms demanding their money back as they accused the leaders of taking them for a ride
• A young student caught the eye of many as she lectured the leaders about putting on a straight face as they lied to them

Uasin Gishu - Parents in the populous Uasin Gishu county have been up in arms against the leadership of the devolved unit over the controversial scholarships to Finland.

The academic airlifts were initiated during the tenure of former governor and now senator Jackson Mandago.

On Monday, August 7, Governor Jonathan Bii convened a meeting to iron out the issue that has seen parents and student stage protests in the county.

During presentations, a young girl caught the attention of many Kenyans due to her courage when speaking to the leaders.

She openly told them that they kept lying, smiling, and looking innocent, yet they knew the whole deal was a scam.

"You are very mean with the truth, you keep lying, you smile at us, with a very smooth tongue and a very soft face that looks like it's very innocent, but you keep on lying and lying," she lamented as the other aggrieved students cheered.

Uasin Gishu student puts leaders to task

The courageous girl further questioned why the leaders arrived at the meeting late despite stating the meeting would start at 9am.

Holding her passport, the young lady told the leaders that they may dismiss her sentiment since she was young.

She stated that her grandfather had not eaten since morning, as they had arrived at the venue very early for the meeting, pointing out that some of the elderly at the meeting were ailing due to the stress induced by the issue.

Mandago - Bii blame game over scholarships

Earlier, Bii laid the blame on his predecessor while pointing to a KSh 138 million shortfall in the kitty set-up for the program.

The governor explained that there were no monies to refund to the parents but implied that would be done later after assessing the database that bears all the information.

According to the county's top brass, only KSh 1 million can be traced to the account.

On his part, Mandago sought to absolve himself of the saga, saying he handed over the program to the current administration.

Mandago said the monies left by the time he was leaving were upward of KSh 37.5 million, as opposed to the KSh 1 million the current administration claims to be in the account.

He also revealed that the students' locked accounts also had over KSh 67 million, leaving the balance at upward of KSh 104 million.