Prof Francis Aduol served as vice chancellor of Technical University of Kenya until his retirement in May 2023.
A commissioner of the Independent Electoral Commissioner (IEBC) has been dragged into the Sh4.3 billion pension scheme scandal at the Technical University of Kenya (TUK).
Prof Francis Aduol, who served as vice chancellor of the university until his retirement in May 2023, on Thursday appeared before the Senate committee of labour and social welfare to answer on allegations of mismanagement of the staff benefits retirement scheme.
Prof Aduol was appointed the founding principal of Kenya Polytechnic University College (KPUC) in 2008 and became its first VC when the institution was made a fully-fledged as a public university, a position he held until his retirement in May 2023.
The Independence Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Commissioner Prof. Francis Odhiambo Aduol takes an oath during the swearing-in of the new IEBC Commissioners at the Supreme Court in Nairobi on July 11, 2025.
This year, he applied to join the IEBC as a commissioner when the positions were advertised. He was formally appointed and sworn into office in July.
The committee chaired by West Pokot Senator Julius Murgor is investigating alleged mismanagement of the funds belonging to the staff pension’s scheme by the university management following a petition by affected workers who are alleging financial mismanagement spanning over a decade.
Prof Aduol faced tough questions from senators who demanded to know his role in the collapsed scheme and any financial mismanagement that might have occurred to the staff pension during his tenure as the VC.
Prof Aduol fought off the allegations, defending himself against any wrong doing during his tenure as the vice chancellor.
“No money was lost, no money was stolen and the university never received enough money from the government,” Prof Aduol told the committee.
He told the committee that the university suffered from a cash deficit every financial year revealing that they used to receive only Sh120 from the government against a payroll of Sh220 million.
“So there was already a big challenge. So when somebody says we didn’t remit the money yet we didn’t have that money in the first place,” Prof Aduol told the committee.
“The little money that came to use from the government, we used it to remit money for pensions but not fully, same to taxes. We were also not able to pay our suppliers fully,” Prof Aduol said.
Prof Aduol told senators that he was the one who started the staff pension scheme with ‘good intention’ but just like any other public university, they faced financial challenges along the way.
“We borrowed Sh30 million from the staff pension scheme account at KCB to help the university to run with the hope that we will pay back, I don’t know whether that is what is called stealing,” Prof Aduol said.
The Technical University of Kenya campus along along Haile Selassie Avenue in Nairobi.
“A university is only a university if learning and other activities are going on and that is what we borrowed the Sh30 million for. Is that what you call stealing?" he posed.
Documents before the Senate committee show that signatories to the KCB account where the members contributions were banked then were Prof Francis Aduol (VC), Prof Paul Shiundu (acting Dep VC), Prof Suki K.K Mwendwa (acting deputy VC), Mr Jamleck Kanambiu (acting chief accountant) and Mr Stanley M. Mwangi (acting finance officer).
The committee learnt that for 15 years, Technical University of Kenya (TUK) deducted employee contributions but failed to remit both the employees’ deductions and the university’s matching contributions to the custodian bank, KCB.
Even more troubling, deductions continued after September 2017, when the RBA sought a court order to wind up the scheme and persisted for two months after the High Court formally ordered its liquidation in July 2024.
Documents tabled before the committee indicate that on July 6, 2024, the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) got orders from the High Court to wind up and liquidate the Technical University of Kenya (TU-K) pension scheme.
The RBA and the Office of the Auditor General consistently flagged the employer for failure to remit contributions to the scheme despite deductions made to employees’ payslips.
After 15 years (2009-2024 of non-remittance and eventual winding up of the scheme, the university employees and members of the scheme were thrown into confusion as to what is next for their benefits.
The petitioners, through University Academic Staff Union (UASU) TUK Chapter Secretary Fred Sawenja, now want the committee to take action against those officers who were in office then when the scheme collapsed due to error of omission or commission.
In addition, the petitioners also want the officers who were in office then held accountable and the money recovered if found culpable of any mismanagement of the funds.
Further, the petitioners have also urged the committee to put measures in place that will safeguard the future retirement scheme of university staff from such mismanagement.
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