President William Ruto’s pledge that a Bill guaranteeing universal funding for all qualifying university students is before Parliament has run into fresh doubt after a search of publicly available National Assembly documents did not locate the legislation.
The Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) has been allocated Sh56.71 billion, against the Sh114.36 billion needed to support 1,199,423 students seeking financial assistance. The shortfall has for years left thousands of students without full funding, forcing many to abandon their preferred courses for cheaper alternatives- a crisis that appears to have driven the government to reconsider the funding model it introduced only three years ago.
Speaking at State House on Tuesday, Dr Ruto said the “final version” of a proposal to make higher education funding universal was already before Parliament, and urged MPs to fast-track its passage so that students joining university in September could benefit regardless of their financial background. It was the first time he had referred publicly to such a Bill, and he did not explain how it would be funded.
“Now we have in Parliament the final version of how we are going to make higher education universal. It will not matter the background of any child in Kenya, it will matter how good they are. Going into the future, we’ve been trying to grapple with how we fund our higher education,” Dr Ruto said.
However, enquiries by the Nation to senior government officials failed to produce a copy of the Bill or establish what stage it had reached. Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba and State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed instead supplied only an “Overview of the Tertiary Placement and Funding Bill, 2026.”
Higher Education Principal Secretary Beatrice Inyangala told the Nation the Bill had “left the Ministry”, though she could not say how far it had progressed thereafter.
- Ruto’s universal higher education funding pledge faces key test
- Officials sound alarm over fake claims in student funding applications
Dr David Ndii, who chairs the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, appeared to complicate matters further, noting on social media that Dr Ruto had spoken of students being “fully funded” rather than committing to government funding specifically. Meanwhile, Julius Melly, who chairs the National Assembly’s Education Committee, offered only a terse response to questions from the Nation: “Don’t be in a rush.”
Mr Ogamba maintained that the proposed Tertiary Placement and Funding Bill, 2026 was already before the House. “The Bill is now in Parliament for debate and approval. This new funding model will become effective upon passage of the Bill by Parliament,” he said. Dr Inyangala separately said the ministry had submitted amendments in July and suggested the document had moved beyond her office.
“We do have the Bill, but you see, it has already left this office. It is a Ministry of Education document. Remember, this does not touch on me alone or the State Department. It also touches on TVET. So it is a ministerial document that has already left,” she said, adding: “Once documents leave, I cannot say anything more because they are now out of our hands. I would say we be patient for the process to unfold so that the information we are sharing with the public covers the final details.”
Under standard procedure, a government Bill must first be drafted by the relevant Cabinet Secretary on Cabinet’s instructions, approved by Cabinet, and only then transmitted to Parliament. With sufficient political will, a Bill can clear the House within a week of being tabled.
Yet the National Assembly’s Clerk, Samuel Njoroge, did not respond to enquiries sent to his known number, and checks by the Nation with senior parliamentary staff found no evidence that the Assembly had received any such Bill. It also does not appear on the National Assembly’s online Bill Tracker, which monitors legislation from introduction to assent or rejection. Further checks suggested Cabinet itself had yet to approve the Bill, a necessary step before it can be sent to Parliament.
“Before government Bills come to Parliament for processing, they are usually accompanied by a Cabinet memo officially communicating the Cabinet’s position on the Bill and the need for its passage. We haven’t seen this yet,” a parliamentary official said, speaking anonymously.
Records show there have been two previous attempts to amend the Helb Act in the past three years, both of which stalled. A 2023 Bill by Machakos County Woman Representative Joyce Kamene, aimed at easing the financial burden on graduates and widening loan eligibility to minors, lapsed at the end of the Third Session of 2024. A separate Executive-sponsored Bill introduced the same year, intended to align Helb’s legal framework with budget constraints at the time, also failed to progress.
The credibility of the new pledge has been further tested by lawmakers and civil society figures. Kitutu Chache South MP Anthony Kibagendi argued that Kenya already has sufficient resources to fund universal access without new legislation.
“Suffering students need relief now, not a promissory note,” he said. “This government owes universities billions of shillings that should be released to enable them to run independently and profitably. The government should also stop running down colleges and universities through political interference and corruption.”
Immediate former Law Society of Kenya president Faith Odhiambo questioned the timing and sincerity of the announcement, given the financial strain already facing public universities.
“If the State could not sustainably fund the existing model, how does it suddenly find resources to fully fund every KUCCPS placed student without a clear legal framework, cost plan and honest conversation about trade-offs in health, housing and other services? A constitutional government must not dangle free rights as campaign bait while hiding the fiscal maths from the very citizens expected to pay the bill,” she said.
According to Mr Ogamba, the proposed Bill would overhaul tertiary education financing by merging Helb, the Universities Fund and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Fund Board into a single Tertiary Education Funding Authority.
The new body would coordinate funding for university, college and TVET students, covering tuition, accommodation and living costs, and would be empowered to raise resources beyond the Exchequer, including private capital and other non-traditional financing sources – while consolidating existing public bursary and scholarship schemes.
Email your news TIPS to Editor@nairobilawmonthly.com, and to advertise with us, call +254715061658 anytime of the day
