If there is one pending matter that the Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu Ombaki must deal with as fast as possible, it is the Egerton University financial mess.
To many education stakeholders, the Egerton University financial crisis is getting worse by the day.
Thousands of alumni of the university that was founded as a farm school in 1939 by Lord Maurice Egerton of Tatton, a Briton who settled in Kenya in the 1920s, are worried by the financial mess at the institution that shaped their careers.
“As alumni, we get embarrassed when you hear what ails Egerton University. The institution is no longer the academic icon it used to be,” said an alumnus who is a businessman in Nakuru City.
While other public universities are receiving 52 per cent capitation from the national government and are paying their staff full salaries, Egerton University is struggling to meet its financial obligations.
Should Education CS resolve this matter, he will have resolved the dispute between the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) Egerton Chapter and the university management.
Efforts by a labour conciliator to mediate and end the stalemate have failed as both parties have refused to agree.
“There was no agreement on any item of conciliation. The conciliator shall write a report and file the same in court,” said Uasu Egerton Chapter secretary Grace Wanjiru Kibue.
Interestingly, Mr Machogu has received two contrasting views on what is ailing the university.
In October last year, Uasu presented to Mr Machogu a list of grievances that they hoped he would address. Among the issues was a salary dispute.
“Mr Machogu promised to escalate the issue with the highest authority. However, we are still waiting for positive feedback from the CS,” said Dr Kibue.
The university management and council also visited the CS and Principal Secretary State Department for Higher Education and Research Beatrice Inyangala where they asked for financial bailout.
“Members of the Egerton University Council and the vice-chancellor met Mr Machogu and Ms Inyangala on January 23, 2023, to discuss the financial challenges bedevilling the university,” said the university on its verified Twitter handle.
The university council members and management who visited the CS included chairperson of the council Luka Hukka Wario, Dr Wilson Ronno, Dr Charity Nyaga, Mr Paul K’Angira, Ms Esther Wabuge, Dr John Ondari and VC Prof Isaac Ongubo Kibwage.
The visit came at a time when Vice-Chancellor Prof Kibwage and eight other council members were fined Sh100,000 each for contempt of court.
The union, which is representing about 400 lecturers at the financially troubled Njoro Campus, is crying foul after the university management slashed their salaries by 40 per cent.
The union has accused the university of failing to remit third-party deductions to banks, cooperative societies, and insurance firms.
The university which has a debt overload of more than Sh9 billion has not been remitting pension contributions amounting to more than Sh2.1 billion.
The lecturers claim the university management has tampered with their pension by issuing controversial contribution variations on the payment which is on the lower side.
“My landlord keeps asking me whether I was retrenched because he has never seen me default on house rent. I am embarrassed to tell him that my salary was slashed by 40 per cent,” said a lecturer.
“Egerton University lecturers are surviving by God’s grace. Most of them are unable to meet their financial obligations,” said another don.
