PS Julius Bitok Comes Under Fire From MPs Over Mismanagement of Education Sector

February 22, 2026

The man at the helm of Kenya’s basic education bureaucracy is in the eye of a storm, and this time, the thunder is coming from both sides of the aisle.

Basic Education Principal Secretary Prof Julius Bitok is facing the most withering assault of his tenure, with Members of Parliament from across the political divide painting a portrait of a senior government official who is absent, unresponsive, and — in the most damning indictment yet — clueless about the state of the very sector he is paid to run.

The fury boiled over publicly at the recent National Assembly retreat in Naivasha, where Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba found himself standing alone before a hostile chamber, fielding question after question on issues that lawmakers said squarely belonged to his PS. Bitok was nowhere to be found.

National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah did not bother with diplomatic niceties. He went straight for the jugular.

“You have the most clueless PS in the Ministry of Education. He only sits in Nairobi and has no idea what is happening on the ground,” Ichung’wah declared to thunderous applause from fellow lawmakers at the retreat, adding that it was MPs, not ministry officials, who had been reduced to acting as de facto school inspectors across the country.

Ichung’wah challenged Bitok to leave his Nairobi office and go to the ground, warning that only then could the ministry make a credible case before the House for the billions it requires to fix the education sector.

The issues raised were not trivial. MPs confronted CS Ogamba over the chaotic transition to Grade 10 under the Competency-Based Curriculum, the wildly unequal distribution of teachers across schools, chronic underfunding, understaffing, and the brazen exploitation of parents by school principals who impose arbitrary charges. Ichung’wah pointed to the glaring absurdity of a school with 100 students having 28 teachers while a neighbouring school of 600 pupils had none, and asked who exactly was minding the store at the ministry.

What made the situation even more combustible was that Bitok, rather than appearing before the aggrieved lawmakers, responded on social media. He posted a photograph of himself inspecting schools in Kikuyu constituency — the very constituency represented by Ichung’wah himself — with the caption: “On the ground! On call! On duty!” The move was seen by MPs as a brazen provocation.

The Naivasha spectacle was, however, merely the opening act.

On Thursday, the Education Committee of the National Assembly convened to deliberate on the Budget Policy Statement for the Basic Education Department — a critical exercise in which the ministry is expected to defend its proposed expenditure before Parliament. Bitok again failed to show up.

The committee took fierce issue with Bitok’s absence, with MPs calling for sanctions and accountability over what they termed a pattern of contempt for the legislature.

Committee chairman Julius Melly did not mince words. “It is not the first time that he has failed to appear in this very important session. We are really saddened and our timelines are now over. We condemn the behaviour of the PS and more importantly, the casual manner in which he is carrying out his work,” he said, warning that the committee would explore the harshest punitive measures available under parliamentary standing orders.

Mandera South MP Abdul Haro went further, calling for Bitok to be made an example to every other PS in government who might be tempted to treat Parliament with similar disdain. Luanda MP Dick Maungu said the pattern of behaviour had been consistent since Bitok was transferred from the Immigration department to Jogoo House.

Maungu said Bitok had consistently failed to attend committee meetings since his arrival at the Education ministry, including in the previous year when a similar summons was issued and equally ignored.

Igembe North MP Julius Taitumu said the House was done talking. “We don’t need to belabour this. We are in concurrence that this is not expected behaviour from the leadership of this country,” he said, as the committee resolved to schedule an emergency session with the PS for the following Tuesday.

The pressure on Bitok is not confined to the National Assembly chambers. Out in the constituencies, the verdict is just as damning.

Bumula MP Jack Wamboka has called on President William Ruto to remove Bitok from office entirely, accusing him of presiding over systemic failures that have crippled the education sector and frustrated key government reforms. Wamboka described Bitok as “a politician” who does not belong in a technical reform role, suggesting he be released to contest for elective office in Uasin Gishu instead.

Wamboka also disclosed that schools had received only Sh7,000 per learner out of an expected annual capitation of Sh22,000, blaming what he called poor planning by the PS for a funding shortfall that has left school heads unable to meet basic operational costs.

Even the praise directed at CS Ogamba has been weaponised against his PS. Several MPs have distinguished sharply between the two men, saying the Cabinet Secretary is being actively undermined by a PS who provides neither technical support nor institutional competence. Wamboka praised Ogamba as doing his best while being dragged behind by Bitok.

For his part, Bitok has attempted to fight back. Hours after the Naivasha retreat, he unveiled an online portal for reporting corruption or malpractice in the placement of Grade 10 learners into senior secondary schools, framing it as a personal commitment to integrity and accountability in basic education. The gesture was met with scepticism by lawmakers who said it was too little, too late, and no substitute for physical presence and institutional accountability.

The accumulation of crises facing the education sector — teacher rationalisation failures, capitation shortfalls, uniform cartels, the messy CBC transition, withheld student certificates, and now a PS who will not appear before Parliament — has created a political firestorm that shows no signs of cooling.

With the Budget Policy Statement process already delayed, the National Assembly Education Committee facing its own credibility test over its ability to hold the executive to account, and an electorate increasingly restless over the state of public schools, Bitok’s position has never looked more precarious.

The committee has scheduled another sitting with the PS for Tuesday. Whether he shows up will tell the country everything it needs to know about where this standoff is headed.