EXPOSED: Why banks are rejecting cheques issued by Sonko
Nairobi MCAs have raised concern over the high rate at which banks reject cheques issued by Nairobi Governor, Mike Mbuvi Sonko to fund secondary school education.
An alarming number of the 69,700 cheques valued Sh357.5 million issued last month to the needy from the city’s 85 wards have been turned down by banks.
Last week, Kileleshwa member Elias Okumu told the city assembly that most of the cheques were being rejected due to spelling mistakes and signature mismatch.
County Education Executive Janet Ouko acknowledged the anomaly, saying City Hall was forced to handwrite the cheques after Co-op Bank failed to do so within the tight timelines.
The bank would not respond to our queries.
Ms Ouko said spelling mistakes should be addressed between the concerned parties, adding that only six parents had raised concerns over signature mismatch in the cheques.
“I am not aware that there is any cheque that has got an error because none has been presented to me. I don’t have one cheque that has been returned,” Ms Ouko said on Friday.
The furore over the bursary cheques comes barely a month after revelations the county deposited Sh297 million for the Bursary Fund into an account held by Maryland University in Australia.
The money remained in the account for a month before it was discovered.