Education minister Mutula Kilonzo yesterday met development partners in a bid to restore donor funding through the government.

The minister said a code of conduct will be developed to guide the the disbursement and use of funds from donors and the government. "A dispute resolution mechanism would also be put in place to deal with any arising problems in funds management within the education sector," he said. The meeting with development partners was the second after the first requested a follow-up.

The donors under the Education Coordinating Development Group met the government side yesterday. Donors had stopped funds to the Ministry of Education after the loss of billions of shillings was reported as mismanaged. Instead they channelled funds directly to educational institutions.

"The meeting among other things is meant to discuss modalities to review financing especially on how County government would benefit from the fund," Mutula said.

Also on the agenda was the progressive report on legislative pieces being pushed by the ministry. The impending bills include the TSC, Knec examinations and the education policy paper 2012.

"We have also requested for support of the ministry's technical staff in the preparation of the key education bills that would align the sector with the constitution," the minister said. He said a retreat for MPs and donors before June would enable budgetary requirements to be factored in the budget.

Senior education adviser of DfID Kenya and Somalia, Mark Waltham, welcomed the meeting which he said comes at the backdrop of some lack of engagement between the government and donors. "We remain committed and focused to help the children of Kenya in education," Waltham said. The donors included DfID, the World Bank, Unicef, Sida and USAid.