Kenyatta University (KU) and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) are struggling to dispose of properties worth millions of shillings in Kigali, Rwanda, where their campuses have been lying idle since 2017.
The two universities have been unable to liquidate the properties they bought in Kigali to establish campuses, which were eventually closed by the Rwandan government in 2017 for non-compliance with standards.
The two universities are among the public higher education institutions on the radar of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for various reasons.
The investments remain idle, although there have been attempts to sell the properties and the universities desperately need the cash. KU closed its campus even before it had admitted any students.
JKUAT attempted to sell the Rwanda property when it advertised for tenders for two properties in Rwanda on February 13, 2024. According to the advertisement, the plots measure 45,479 square metres and are located in Kicukiro District, Gahanga Village, Karembure Locality. It was a condition of the tender that successful bidders would have to bid for both plots. The Auditor-General has valued the two properties at Sh19.8 million.
On the same day, JKUAT advertised for the lease of its closed Westlands campus in Nairobi and another property in Lavington. The land area of the properties is 2,013 acres. Last month, the university re-advertised the two properties with a deadline of November 19, 2024. The Westlands campus was closed in December 2018. The land is valued at Sh400 million and the buildings at Sh40 million.
The Rwanda property is also the subject of a court case in which a Rwandan national is seeking Sh48 million from the university for breach of contract over the property. Martin Higiro, a Rwandan, sued JKUAT in the commercial court in Kigali, which ruled in his favour on July 31, 2018. He was the owner of the building that housed the JKUAT campus. He then applied to the High Court in Nairobi to recognise the Kigali judgment. The court granted the application on July 28, 2023.
However, JKUAT sought the intervention of the Court of Appeal, which granted a stay of execution of the High Court order pending the hearing and determination of the appeal. The judgment was delivered on November 22, 2024.
The KU management also tried unsuccessfully to sell some of the movable property. It later told the companies that had bid that there was an error in the tender documents because the reserve prices for the items had not been converted into Rwandan francs.
“This anomaly renders the reserve prices unrealistically low hence the items were not awarded. We regret the error and apologise for the inconvenience caused,” reads a letter by the acting head of procurement Atichi Alati to one of the tenders, and seen by the Nation . It is dated June 26, 2024.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has also raised the red flag over the Rwandan campuses. In her report dated July 19, 2021, for the year ended June 30, 2020, KU spent Sh518.2 million to establish the Kigali campus (Sh420.7 million) and the Arusha campus in Tanzania (Sh97.4 million).
“However, the university closed down the two campuses due to operational challenges imposed by change in legislation by both the Government of Rwanda and the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania after the university had just met all the requirements and was ready to roll out programmes,” the report reads.
Ms Gathungu noted that the management of the university had indicated that of the investments made at the Arusha campus, Sh90 million was spent on salaries, rentals, operations and maintenance expenses and was therefore not recoverable.
They further reported that furniture and equipment valued at Sh7.4 million were taken to the main campus and distributed to various departments, but there was no inventory of assets provided for audit verification.
“The National Treasury has granted approval for the disposal of the property in Kigali Campus. Although the university has explained that all the due diligence was done before the decision to open up the two campuses, the management has not made any recovery on the amount so far,” the report reads.
According to the auditor-general, KU has 12 stalled projects costing Sh556.6 million that have been stalled since 2018.
“Physical verification revealed that all the stalled projects had building materials of undetermined value lying idle on sites that are overgrown with bushes and perimeter walls around the sites had been vandalised,” the audit report reads.
The auditor-general valued the JKUAT land in Kigali at Sh19.8 million. The university has been accused of another unproductive investment – JKUAT Noodles (Nissin Holdings Limited), a company owned by the university, cost the institution Sh418.9 million.
“During the audit of the subsidiary company operations, it was observed that the company had stopped production and all assets were idle. In the circumstances, the university might not obtain value for money invested in the subsidiary company,” the report reads.
