In late 2016, the then-management board of Kabete National Polytechnic mooted the idea of diversifying their programmes away from their mainstay of technical and health programmes.
After the meeting and subsequent consultations, a decision was arrived at and a diploma and certificate programme in Geophysical Technology was unveiled.
The institution then made frantic efforts to have the course examined by Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) and regulated by The Technical and Vocational Education and Training Curriculum Development, Assessment and Certification Council (TVET CDACC).
Impatient, and having advertised the programme and would-be students have already shown interest, Kabete National Polytechnic went ahead and unveiled the programme in 2017 even before its approval by the regulator, and offered internal exams.
When the whole scam was unearthed, the institution silently removed the programme but with some casualties: Over 60 students were left holding worthless transcripts and with no certificates five years later.
Saturday Nation understands that the programme was reinstated last year after the institution reportedly got approval, but the fate of those who studied the programme before approval remains unclear.
In the whole saga, the profiteer was the college and the students had been turned into pawns in a bigger fight pitting the government and the institution.
The students were paying Sh35,000 per term for the course. This means each paid Sh105,000 for a year.
For the three-year course, Kabete would have raked in Sh18.9 million.
Mr Stephen Kiarie enrolled his son Ericson Njuguna, aged 26, to the national polytechnic in January 2017 after he bumped into an advertisement in the newspaper inviting applicants.
Excited after coming across a course his son always wanted to study, that evening, he asked him to apply, hoping he would turn the tide for the struggling family. He eventually joined the programme and successfully completed his diploma in Geophysical Technology and luckily secured an internship with Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen).
“I have been to Kabete National Polytechnic countless times asking why my son cannot have his academic certificate. I have also been in touch with the institution principal, one John Okumu Odhiambo. I have been asking him what really happened and last I met him in the office he told me that the then principal hurriedly enrolled the students without the programme being approved. I asked myself many questions. Why someone would do that? I thought my son would bring us out of poverty but I am afraid. He now loiters in the village,’’ Mr Kiarie told Saturday Nation, regrettably.
Last week in Gatundu North, Mr Njuguna said that he had found employment opportunities at KenGen but he could not be considered since he didn’t have certificates proving that he had successfully gone through the programme and graduated.
Overwhelmed by pressure from the parents and the students, last year, the institution organised the graduation of the affected students in the disputed programme after previously being listed in the previous graduation list only to be removed at the last minute.
Even with that, the students have never been issued with certificates.
Mr Njuguna told Saturday Nation that he had secured a job in Abu Dhabi last year as a geophysical technician and when he failed to produce transcripts and a certificate after a virtual interview, the employer went quiet.
Ms Lucy Wamaitha, another of the affected students, lamented that the only thing she has that shows she went through the programme are exam transcripts and a photo of her graduating.
She told Saturday Nation that she is almost giving up given she has exhausted all the platforms she hoped would help her get her certificate and hopefully, a job.
‘’I don’t have my certificate and I am not sure when I will get it. We thought when they enrolled us they had a plan and had met all the regulation requirements. I completed my programme in 2019 and I have no fees balance but I have never been issued with the certificate. I have lost many opportunities and currently I am an intern in a drilling company. I keep looking for internships to get stipends for survival because I cannot get a permanent job. The question of how I have transcripts with no certificate to prove I completed the course always arises when I attend the interviews. I end up losing the opportunities,’’ Ms Waithira complained.
She recalled the moment she thought her troubles were over in 2021 when the university put the 60 affected students in a graduation list.
“We were happy to be in the list, but then we were eventually removed. When the pressure became too much, last year, they made us graduate to cool the situation but our efforts to get the certificate have been futile,’’ Ms Waithira said.
Ms Mercy Mwathia*( not her real name) joined the programme in 2017 and completed class work in 2019. She requested Saturday Nation not to reveal her name because her employer may identify her and she may end up losing her job.
Working in a geology lab for the last three years, she told her employer that she had huge fee arrears and that is why she doesn’t have her certificate.
“I have stagnated in my career because I don’t have the papers. I think the problem is with the management and regulator. Someone was greedy and snuck in the programme without its approval and now we are messed up,’’ she said.
Mr Henry Maina applied and luckily got a job, but was let go when he failed to provide his certificate even after graduating in 2019.
“I have not made any progress in life. I rely on freelance jobs for survival,’’ he lamented.
Ms Pessy Sonkoi said she applied for the programme in 2018 and completed the programme in April 2020.
Like the rest, Sonkoi said she lost an opportunity she had secured after she failed to present her certificate.
It is a puzzle that even Mr John Okumu Odhiambo, the principal of Kabete National Polytechnic, technically said is beyond him.
“I say so because some cases went ballistic when in actual sense they never met course requirements. That is why we treat each on its own merit while observing limits and extent of confidentiality on student academic records,’’ Mr Okumu said.
He declined to comment on how a government institution enrolled students without meeting requisite requirements.
‘’You may be having information I do not have. Let me not comment,’’ he replied.
Mr Justus Anziya, the public communication officer at The Technical and Vocational Education and Training Curriculum Development, Assessment and Certification Council (TVET CDACC), said that the approval of the geophysical technology programme should have come from the latter, implying that the students who enrolled for the programme may be holding worthless academic papers.
‘’Such programme should have been approved by TVET CDACC and I think that is where the problem lies,’’ Mr Anziya told Saturday Nation and later referred us to Kabete National Polytechnic registrar Ms Violet Kithumbu.
Ms Kithumbu explained there was a misunderstanding between Kabete National Polytechnic and TVET CDACC, but she declined to offer more details.
‘’What I know is that there was a misunderstanding between CDACC and the institution on how the programme was to be regulated and offered but allow me to come back with a detailed response,’’ Ms Kithumbu responded.
Kenya National Qualifications Authority did not wish to comment on the matter on whether the exam transcripts the students were issued with are legitimate
The State agency instead referred us to TVETA. “It’s TVETA that handles programme accreditation,” it said.
The plight of these students is replicated in other government learning institutions like Meru university.
Elvis* should have graduated a year ago from Meru University of Science and Technology (MUST). But a year and several months later, the diploma in Information, Communication, and Technology student is yet to graduate. Together with 48 other classmates, he is dejected and disappointed.
The affected students had enrolled in 2020 for various diploma courses under the TVET Curriculum Development Assessment and Certification Council (CDACC) programme.
Like all his classmates, Elvis is yet to get any verifiable marks for all the years of studies. Some of his classmates, he narrated, even have missing marks.
While he does not know when exactly the mix-up began, he says that immediately he was done with the coursework as stipulated, he began questioning the delays in graduation –a querry that brought to the fore the worrisome state of affairs.
“The university seems to be disowning us. Parents are questioning us but we do not have answers.,” he said.
“Looking for a job without transcripts or the certificates is a tall order. Sadly, we’re watching helplessly as our prime years slip by.”
On March 11, 2023, the university held a graduation for the award of degrees and diploma certificates to graduands, but the students were not included.
The ICT diploma student applied for the programme on the KUCCPS portal and paid between Sh19,000 and Sh23,000 per semester for fees, and Sh5,600 for examinations.
Under the TVET CDACC programme, students cleared fees before sitting any exams. Evans’ transcript indicates that he should retake some exams that he failed. But according to the institution’s portal, Evans, who cleared his fees before the exams, has arrears of Sh6,000. His mates too are having the additional fees which the institution has failed to explain to them.
Also affected are diploma in mechatronics students, 13 students pursuing a diploma in human resource management, four enrolled for a diploma in marketing and 25 who were pursuing diploma in business management. They enrolled in 2020.
“We have done our part. We are done with classes and the industrial attachment. Now, we don’t know if we’ll ever graduate,” said a student who pursued a diploma in mechatronics.
Mr Thiaine Kubaison, the director of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) at MUST last week told the Nation that “the problem is not with the institution”.
“CDACC mandate was transferred to KNEC following a presidential directive,” Mr Kubaison said. “This was only recently reinstated. There is confusion about who should release the exams. Institutions and students are suffering as a result of this confusion.”
