WUNDANYI – A total of 208 first-year university students from Wundanyi Constituency have received a crucial financial boost after the area National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) issued them Sh10,000 each to facilitate their transition to campus. The disbursement exercise, held on Saturday at the County Commissioner’s Hall in Wundanyi, saw a total of Sh2.08 million handed over to relieve the financial pressure on parents and guardians.
Area Member of Parliament Danson Mwashako, who presided over the event, highlighted that the one-off stipend is intended to cushion learners who are facing delays in the national processing of Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) funding. Calling the intervention a major relief for families, Mwashako noted that the timely cash allocation ensures no qualified student misses their admission deadline due to immediate financial constraints.
The cash boost coincides with a steady rise in local academic performance. Constituency data presented at the event revealed that university qualifiers in Wundanyi have grown significantly from just 53 students in 2018 to over 200 annually over the last four years—a trend the lawmaker attributed to collaborative interventions by regional education stakeholders.
In addition to the freshers’ stipend, the legislator distributed cheques bringing the day’s total education funding to Sh7,319,500. The remaining Sh5.23 million was directed to the constituency’s Sima Wukiwa Nawiri program, an initiative that subsidizes day secondary school fees by requiring parents to pay only Sh1,000 per term while the NG-CDF covers the rest.
The event, which brought together secondary school heads, Board of Management representatives, and local education officials, took place against a backdrop of legal uncertainty. With court rulings declaring the NG-CDF Act unconstitutional and setting a wind-down deadline for June 2026, concerns remain high among local leaders and parents regarding the long-term sustainability of such vital constituency bursary schemes.
