First-year students at Moi University are yet to be taught since admission in August because of the standoff between striking staff and the institution’s management.
The new students, who reported at the university on August 26 2024, have endured two months of waiting into their first semester, and most regret joining the institution. Barely two weeks after reporting, the university was closed after teaching and non-teaching staff went on strike.
“I regret joining this university. Since I was admitted I have never stepped in class. My hopes of starting, my degree journey continue to dwindle even as I report back. I am not sure if learning will resume,” said Hannah Bula, a first-year Bachelor of Education student.
She is among many students who have suffered the consequences of the protracted stalemate between the university management and academic and non-academic staff over pay arrears, among other things.
Another student Reuben Mbugua says it has been hectic since he joined the university with neither orientation nor learning.
“Understanding what is going on in the university has been hectic for me,” said Mbugua, a Communications Technology student.
'We're giving up hope': Moi University students express their frustration
Unlike Mbugua, Stephen Odhiambo has been trying to transfer to another university in vain.
“I regret joining this university, I have tried to transfer to another university three times in vain. If I manage to secure admission to another university I will go without looking back,” said the special education student as students started reporting back at the institution on Monday.
Despite challenges, student leaders at the university are optimistic that learning will resume this week after the senate announced the re-opening.
“We have met management on behalf of students. We hope that this time out learning will resume and there will be no further interference,” said Vincent Tarus Moi University Student Organisation (Muso) president.
Tarus, however, admitted that the strike has interfered with the academic calendar. He hopes that the university will embrace strategies that will enable students to recover their lost time.
The university management, however, declined to comment on the situation.
There is confusion at the troubled university as students trickle in amid the persisting standoff between striking staff and management.
Students started arriving at the institution on Monday following its re-opening after the parliamentary committee on education directed management and striking workers to reach a return-to-work formula to ensure learning resumes.
On Monday, a few students who arrived at the university were met with an ugly exchange between the university management and the Kenya University Staff Union (Kusu).
Striking workers insist that the strike is still on, while university management says that learning has resumed, as earlier announced by the Senate through a memo to all students and employees directing them to resume operations at the university.
The striking workers camped at the main entrance of the university administration chanting anti-VC songs, with the management locked in a meeting section of union officials.
The striking staff, through their unions, have termed the memo an inconsequential communication used by the management to intimidate them. They have vowed not to resume work until they sign a return-to-work formula.
Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions and Hospital Workers (KUDHEIHA) chairperson Eunice Tarus insisted that the strike was still on. She accused the university management of misleading students and Kenyans.
“As employees of Moi University, we are not aware of the re-opening of this university. As we speak, the hostels are in a chaotic situation. The Parliamentary Committee on Education on Friday said the government had released Sh3.5 billion to bail the university to pay our remittances to statutory bodies but that was not true and we have now signed the return to work formula. These are just gimmicks from government and university management,” she protested.
University Academic Staff Union (Uasu) members too share the position, insisting that they are yet to be consulted about the re-opening of the university.
Kenga Mumbo, a lecturer in the Kiswahili department said the announcement by the Senate to re-open the university was aimed at pleasing the government.
Mr Mumbo said Uasu leaders told the parliamentary committee that one of the requirements for employees of the university to resume work was to dissolve the entire body of management and ensure that workers are paid their pending remittances.
He said it was unfortunate that the management announced the re-opening of the institution before ensuring that the demands of workers and directions issued by the parliamentary committee were adhered to.
The lecturer further claimed that the Sh3.5 billion that the parliamentary committee announced to have been released to the university is yet to be received in the university’s bank account.
“As a lecturer, I have no plan to resume teaching until I see my money in my account to confirm that the university has remitted my statutory deductions. The announcement by the parliamentary committee about Sh3.5 billion to bail the university seems to be an empty promise,” said Mr Mumbo.
The workers accused the university management of using their proxies to force them to return to work and allegedly threatened workers who did not resume.
“They are threatening to sack us, yet they have not adhered to the return-to-work formula as required by the Labour Act. Threats won’t solve the myriad of challenges facing this university,” said Ms Tarus.
The workers regretted that Members of Parliament are not taking matters of education seriously the way they value politics while referring to the pace that was used to impeach former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
“If this government was serious with the future of our children, the same pace they used to impeach Gachagua could have been used to rescue Moi University. We suspect the management compromised the parliamentary Committee on Education,” said one of the striking workers.
On Friday, the National Assembly Education Committee toured the institution and recommended the disbandment of the Moi University management and appointment of a caretaker committee to run it as the only way to salvage it.
The 15-member committee led by Tinderet MP Julius Melly made it clear that the current management team led by Prof Isaac Sanga Kosgey should be disbanded to rescue the university from collapsing.
The committee members toured the university farm, lecture halls, and other facilities, where they noted 'the pathetic state of infrastructure at the institution.'
"This university is in a pathetic state. The ladies' hostels are in a dilapidated state, leaking roofs, bushes all over, the road to the hostel is full of cow dung surrounded by bushes," observed Mr Melly.
