Kenya: MPs Demand Answers Over Sh300mn KUCCPS Placement Fee Debt

What the report says

Kenya’s Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) is facing scrutiny after lawmakers raised questions over about Sh300 million in unpaid placement fees owed by institutions. The issue was discussed on Wednesday before the National Assembly Education Committee, which is reviewing KUCCPS’s budget implementation for the 2025/26 financial year. Committee chair Julius Melly led the session, according to the Capital FM report distributed by AllAfrica.

KUCCPS chief executive Agnes Wahome told MPs that the agency had targeted Sh284.16 million in placement-fee revenue but collected Sh261.57 million. She said the charge is a one-off Sh1,500 fee paid by institutions for placement and student data validation services, and that some universities had not remitted what they owed. Lawmakers, including vice-chair Eve Obara, asked KUCCPS to identify which types of institutions were behind on payments and what legal or administrative steps were being taken to recover the debt.

Wahome said the unpaid amount is mainly linked to universities and that KUCCPS had agreed with the institutions to repay the debt in instalments starting this financial year. The report said KUCCPS had spent Sh710 million out of an approved Sh796.5 million budget, representing 89% absorption, with the agency’s budget funded internally. The matter is significant because the placement service supports student placement, university funding processes and HELB disbursements, making the fee collection shortfall a concern for agency operations.