MPs call for disbandment of Moi University management, want caretaker team to take over
The National Assembly Education Committee, chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Melly, has called for disbandment of Moi University's current management team and recommended that the institution be put under caretaker control.
While addressing striking staff Friday, Mr Melly promised workers that the current management team under Prof Isaac Sanga Kosgey will be disbanded so as to save the university from collapse.
Mr Melly and other MPs were at Moi University where they met with striking academic staff union officials and members.
The legislator said he regretted the pathetic state of infrastructure at the university.
"Together with my committee members, we have walked around the university right away from farm, lecture halls among other structures. The entire situation is chaotic," said Mr Melly.
Moi University Vice Chancellor Prof Isaac Kosgei (centre) walks past striking staff on November 8, 2024.
The National Assembly's Education Committee had visited the university to resolve the ongoing stand-off between management and workers over pay, which has paralysed learning.
The University Academic Staff Union (Uasu), Kenya University Staff Union (Kusu), and Kenya Union of Domestic Hotels Educational Institutions Hospitals and Allied Workers (Kudheiha) have accused the university management of failing to table ‘meaningful proposals’ on how to settle the huge debts owed to their members.
University staff say they are owed over Sh10 billion in salary and statutory deduction arrears. They rejected a proposal by the university to settle the arrears in three phases and vowed not to resume duty.
Prof Kosgey had announced that the university would be reopened on Tuesday November 12, 2024, saying the university has given the unions a matrix on how their arrears will be settled. The workers's unions, however, rejected the proposal and told the Nation that their members would continue with the job boycott as no deal had been struck.
Additional report by Barnabas Bii
