The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development has dismissed claims of financial mismanagement following an audit that raised concerns over possible losses of Sh540 million in the distribution of textbooks and learning materials.

The audit flagged major inconsistencies, but KICD maintains that no public money was lost.

KICD Chief Executive Charles Ong’ondo said the issues raised by the Auditor General were due to inaccuracies in the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS), which led to errors in student and school data.

“There is no money lost. The flagged issues arise from inconsistencies in the NEMIS system, where some learners were not captured, giving the impression of over-distribution,” Ong’ondo said in an interview with The Star.

He said the institute is preparing a detailed explanation to be presented to Parliament to respond to the audit’s findings.

Ong’ondo also defended the textbook distribution process, saying all books were delivered based on official Ministry of Education data and aligned to the approved curriculum.

He denied claims that irrelevant books were sent to schools and dismissed any suggestion of ghost institutions benefiting from the programme.

He noted that the Ministry of Education handles school registration, while KICD only acts on approved school lists.

He further explained that books are only delivered once schools acknowledge receipt through signed delivery notes by headteachers, which helps ensure accountability.

The audit, conducted by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, covered the 2020–2021 to 2023–2024 financial years. It found a Sh378 million discrepancy between the Sh27.8 billion reportedly released by the Ministry and the Sh28.2 billion confirmed by KICD.

The report also revealed that some schools received more books than needed, leading to excess stock worth Sh90.8 million, while others were short of textbooks valued at Sh295 million.

It also emerged that learning materials worth Sh30.3 million were sent to schools that do not offer the subjects, and another Sh41.4 million was lost due to delivery delays or failure to supply materials. Delivery timelines were found to range from three to 37 months.

In addition, 110 schools reportedly failed to keep proper records of the books they received, raising further questions on oversight and monitoring of the programme.