The financial woes that have afflicted Egerton University recently have forced the Vice Chancellor, Prof Rose Awour Mwonya, to make an early exit, leaving the university reeling under a massive Sh3.3 billion debt.
As Prof Isaac Ongubo Kibwage settles into the hot seat in an acting capacity, the foremost question now is whether he will manage to bail out the institution from its current financial mess.
No doubt, the acting VC will have some tough choices to make as he seeks to bring financial sobriety to the institution and find measures to contain what appears to be runaway fraud and mismanagement of the premier agricultural training institution which turned 81 years.
As it is, some members of staff who are on contract are now in a panic over a possible purge and reshuffles in the audit, accounts and procurement departments - the university council has approved a Sh600 million retrenchment programme of 400 staff in an effort to restructure its bloated Sh2 billion annual payroll.
But even with these changes, it will not be a walk in the park for the former University of Nairobi don as Egerton's seemingly worsening financial crisis is what had Prof Mwonya, the first female VC of the university, fired.
Education CS, Prof George Magoha, seems to have faith in him. During the university’s virtual graduation in August, Prof Magoha wondered why the institution had failed to utilise Prof Kibwage's financial management skills.
“This institution is crying of lack of funds yet it has one of the best brains in Kenya. You should make good use of Prof Kibwage and stop asking the government to increase capitation,” said Prof Magoha.
He was responding to earlier pleas by Prof Mwonya for an increase of its capitation to the university - the CS challenged the university administration to be more innovative to save the institution from the financial mess it is in.
Professor Mwonya,70, was appointed to head the institution on January 13, 2016, with her term set to end on January 12, 2021, but she was forced to take her terminal leave on November 20.
But with only 37 days before her tenure ends, the professor has vowed to fight to the bitter end. She obtained a court order on November 30 reinstating her, but more than 200 lecturers and other non-teaching staff are determined to ensure that she does not access the office.
So far, Prof Kibwage has held a series of crisis meetings with the Universities Academic Staff Union officials in an effort to convince lecturers to suspend their strike, which kicked off on November 4.
The dons want the university to rescind its 40 percent salary cut and restore their full salaries besides paying them accruing arrears since April, and have signed a return-to-work formula with the acting VC. In the deal, the university has agreed to clear the arrears starting this month by paying half of the April arrears, amounting to Sh120million.
The strike has disrupted learning activities at the institution, and more than 2,000 students who were set to graduate in December may have to wait a little longer. The university has also suspended the phased resumption of continuing studies until the lecturers resume duties.
A recent report by the Inspector-General of Corporations, Ms Theodora Kerubo Gichana, painted a grim picture of a chaotic institution that loses millions of shillings yearly to either fraud or incompetence, it is so bad, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) also has the university on its corruption radar.
The staff pension fund is owed Sh1 billion as well as staff gratuities of Sh114.4 million. Some of the academic staff proceeding for retirement at the end this year are worried that they will not receive their pension savings. Unremitted dues to Saccos stand at Sh250.7 million while other unremitted payroll deductions amount to Sh61.7million.
Part-time lecturers are also demanding accrued unpaid salaries amounting to Sh930 million while the Kenya Revenue Authority has slapped the university with a Sh692.2 million tax bill. There are also unspecified claims amounting to Sh131 million.
