The government will sink a further Sh8.4 billion into the controversial laptop project that has so far gobbled up in excess of Sh50 billion.
The new expenditure comes months after Auditor General Edward Ouko disclosed that the state could not account for Sh15.2 billion that had been pumped into the project.
The project, a major 2013 Jubilee campaign plank, has been rubbished by critics as unrealistic and populist, especially after the government switched to buying tablets for pupils instead of the promised laptops.
The fresh allocation is captured in the Division of Revenue Bill, 2019, tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
The Teachers Service Commission, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, and ICT Authority are the key agencies handling the laptop project.
The project was allocated Sh17.6 billion, Sh13.4 billion, Sh13.4 billion, and Sh6.3 billion in four financial years since 2015.
Whereas Education CS Amina Mohamed maintains the project is on course, many taxpayers suspect it might be a white elephant.
“The project has not failed. It was rolled out nationwide after the successes of the pilot. The gadgets are in use,” Amina said in an interview last month.
A KICD report revealed that only 39 per cent of the teachers use the gadgets to teach.
Apart from the digital literacy project, Treasury CS Henry Rotich has allocated billions for ventures whose viability is questionable.
