Prof Paul Kuria Wainaina, the outgoing Vice-Chancellor of Kenyatta University.
Prof Paul Kuria Wainaina’s tenure as Kenyatta University Vice-Chancellor is coming to an end after tumultuous final years.
After a first term marked with relative peace, his last term was anything but rosy.
The teacher, who rose to head Kenya’s third oldest university, found himself in the crosshairs of then-President Uhuru Kenyatta. The country was preparing for the 2022 General Election and the president wanted to accomplish some things before leaving office.
In July 2022, the government “requested” Kenyatta University to cede 410 acres of its land – thirty to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to establish a Sh600 million Regional Emergency Hub, 190 acres to settle 10,000 Kamae squatters, 180 acres for the expansion of Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital and 10 for the Africa Centres for Disease Control.
Prof Wainaina and the university council opposed the directive that had been clothed as a request.
The demand sparked a standoff between the government and the KU management, leading to the revocation of the university council and suspension of Prof Wainaina as VC following the constitution of a new council.
“To ask me to do that, even when the council could not, was illegal. Complying would have been wrong. As a consequence, the council and I were punished,” Prof Wainaina said at his KU office of what transpired on July 12, 2022.
“I was sitting here when they went to the boardroom upstairs without consulting me. One of the officials, Simon Nabukhwesi – once my student and the then Principal Secretary for University Education and Research – said I was guilty of insubordination and demanded that I write a letter to leave. I told him I knew nothing and said they could write it if they wanted me to go and I would obey.”
President William Ruto hands over a trophy for best University stand to the Vice-Chancellor of Kenyatta University Prof Paul Wainaina at the 2025 Nairobi International Trade Fair.
It was after that encounter that the professor convened an emergency meeting with university employees to brief them on the development.
He told them that it was probably the last time he was talking to them as VC due to the dispute with the government over the university land.
Three weeks earlier, an angry President Kenyatta vowed have Prof Wainaina and the KU Council removed following their refusal to release original title deeds to the government during the ground-breaking of the WHO hub.
“Some people don’t just seem to get it. It is not your property. It is public property. You are just a caretaker. We have three weeks (before the General Election),” Mr Kenyatta said.
“We shall deal with those people swiftly and effectively. We will go home with them.”
A memo dated August 5, 2022 stated that Prof Wainaina had been summarily dismissed and Prof Waceke Wanjohi appointed as acting VC.
Prof Wainaina rushed to court, arguing that his removal was unlawful and that only the university council had authority over his employment.
“I realised that the forces I was facing were extremely powerful,” Prof Wainaina said.
On July 27, 2022, the Employment and Labour Relations Court ordered Prof Wainaina’s dismissal to be suspended. It said the position should not be declared vacant while the matter was still pending in court.
After the political transition following the August 9, 2022 General Election, Prof Wainaina was reinstated as VC in November that year.
The new administration handed 30 acres of the university land to WHO in September 2023, committing Sh741 million to the project.
That followed an earlier excision of 180 acres for the hospital. Now a separate parastatal, Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital has utilised the land for specialised facilities, including the Integrated Molecular Imaging and the CyberKnife centres.
A year and a half later, Prof Wainaina was sent on compulsory leave by the KU Council, with Prof Waceke Wanjohi, again, named acting VC.
Axaxa
On April 30, 2025, the Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled that the actions by the council were unlawful and ordered the immediate reinstatement of Prof Wainaina to complete his term that ends on January 26, 2026.
He will revert to the teaching duties until his retirement in June 2026.
The land matter did not die. Last month, a court dismissed a petition challenging the KU land allocation plans by the government.
The court provided a “middle ground” that allowed both sides to claim a partial victory by recognising KU as the registered owner of the title.
It, however, added that the government has a right to repossess the land for “national importance”.
The ruling allowed the government to proceed with the establishment of the WHO hub, squatter settlement and other projects.
Kenyatta University Vice-Chancellor Prof Paul Wainaina (right) and Nation Media Group Commercial Manager Max Mutua during the university’s cultural week festival at the main campus on December 2, 2025.
The court added that the ruling did not grant automatic title deeds to every family occupying Kamae area, but cleared the procedural path for a government-led demarcation.
The dispute involved portions of the university land occupied by squatters for decades. In 2022, the university initiated legal action against the squatters, saying they lacked valid titles.
In response, residents insisted that their long occupation entitled them to formal recognition.
According to Prof Wainaina, the original squatters – approximately 670 families granted land by president Daniel arap Moi – were the primary intended beneficiaries of the settlement.
“Some are not squatters and have just taken that land. People calling themselves squatters are actually building skyscrapers there,” Prof Wainaina said.
“You can tell the original squatters by looking at the residents’ houses. It is the genuine squatters who should be given title deeds.”
Prof Wainaina summarised his greatest achievements as KU vice-chancellor.
“I have been the VC for eight years. Even in circumstances integrity is not valued, one can still do the right thing. That’s the most important thing I have learnt,” he said.
Kenyatta University Vice Chancellor Prof Paul Wainaina addresses students at the institution on April 30, 2025 after the High Court reinstated him to the position.
He presided over the institution’s graduation ceremony as VC for the last time on Friday.
“I am emotional. Seeing people I taught engaged in meaningful activities will make me proud,” he said, adding that he has invited his students, colleagues and family members to celebrate with him.
“Leading KU gave me the opportunity to show that even with difficulties, you can do what is right. I came back because of the strong foundations I built.”
The Philosophy of Education professor said he is happy to be associated with KU, the university ranked as Kenya’s top by Times Higher Education.
Applications for the position of KU Vice-Chancellor are to be submitted to the Public Service Commission by January 9, 2026.
