Ogeto clips PSC powers in battle for influence in VCs recruitment

Education chiefs fighting for more powers in the appointment of senior public university managers have been handed a huge boost after the Attorney General blocked the Public Service Commission from reappointing officials whose terms have lapsed. 

Vice-chancellors, their deputies, college principals and their second-in-command will now be reappointed by university councils in consultations with the Education Cabinet Secretary without any reference to PSC.

In a legal opinion sought by Higher Education Principal Secretary Simon Nabukwesi, the Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto says the senior managers who have completed their five-year term and are seeking extension cannot be put through a second recruitment process.

He says the powers to decide if the extension would be granted rests with the university councils, which should give their recommendations to the Cabinet Secretary.

“We are of the considered opinion that the PSC has no role in the appointment of top university managers since the process of reappointment does not involve competitive recruitment which is the commission’s role,” says Mr Ogeto in an opinion dated August 19.

Good news

However, the edict, which is good news for higher education managers, only solves a small fraction of the controversy that has pitted university councils and Jogoo House against the commission.

At least 10 public universities are operating without either vice-chancellors, deputy vice chancellors, principals or their deputies.

The wrangles, some of which have ended up in court, have hampered the running of the institutions with some having had to operate with acting senior officials for as long as two years.

The controversy follows the amendment of the University Act 2012, which took away the powers of university councils to advertise, interview and recommend candidates for Vice Chancellors, Deputy Vice Chancellors, Principals and Deputy Principals. The appointments were made by the Education Cabinet Secretary upon recommendation by the councils.

The amendment, which was approved by President Uhuru Kenyatta in January this year, vested the recruitment powers on the PSC, which was mandated to act once the universities declared the vacancies.

It was given powers to shortlist, interview and recommend the top candidate to the institution’s council and the Education CS for appointment.

Dr Nabukwesi is opposed to the whole amendment which he describes as unwise and cumbersome, arguing it has spawned increased bureaucracy, incompetence and delays in filling up the vacancies. The amendment, he adds, has left the ministry a helpless bystander as the recruitment process was bogged down in infighting, tribalism and unnecessary delays.

Hiring process

He says the ministry has reached out to Parliament, the Cabinet and other relevant authorities to take out the PSC from the hiring process and return that authority in to councils and Jogoo House.

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has proposed that vice-chancellors be restricted to a single six-year term, and that the PSC be denied any role in the filling of university vacancies.

Late last year, the former vice-chancellor at the University of Nairobi Peter Mbithi wrote to the council seeking a further five-year term after his contract ended. However, the council declined the request, saying it did not have powers to grant him his wish since it was the role of the PSC to fill such positions.

Recently, Jomo Kenyatta University for Agriculture and Technology declared a vacancy for the DVC in charge of Finance and the PSC promptly advertised it only for the university to cancel it. The move was prompted by a vicious disagreement between the council chairperson Gumato Yatani, who was pushing for the reappointment of Prof Bernard Moirongo, whose term ended last year.

Huge stake

But the Vice Chancellor, Prof Victoria Ngumi, wanted the acting DVC Prof Jackson Kwanza to hold on to the position until the PSC recruits the right candidate.

Prof Stephen Gitahi Kiama’s appointment as the University of Nairobi VC by the PSC early this year was steeped in controversy after Prof Magoha rejected the hire and asked the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the process. After a brief court tussle the matter was settled out of court and Prof Kiama took over.

Mr Ogeto’s legal opinion, therefore, serves to highlight a crucial point in the recruitment process; that the universities and the ministry have a huge stake in the activity and cannot be left out.

“The decision to reappoint has to be based on appraisal of satisfactory performance on the part of the holder of the concerned office,” says Mr Ogeto.

The underlying argument is that the PSC has no capacity to determine if an official has satisfactorily served in his role as a senior manager at the university. Only their direct supervisors, namely the council and the education chiefs can do so.

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