Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has appointed university councils at a time various institutions are struggling with huge debts accumulated over the years.
A number also operate without vice-chancellors and chancellors, exposing them to leadership vacuums as concerns grow about the quality of graduates these institutions produce.
Councils are the highest decision-making organs charged with setting the leadership agenda at universities
In the changes, the government has appointed Prof Washington Ochieng’ Yotto of Imperial College London to the Konza City-based Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, revealing a renewed focus on innovation to create jobs. Prof Yotto, a Kenyan engineer well-known for solving city transport chaos, was recently picked by Nairobi County as mobility adviser.
Prof Amukowa Anangwe is the new chairperson of the University of Nairobi’s Council, putting the former minister in charge of Kenya’s most prestigious public universities in terms of world rankings. Prof Anangwe has been a professor of political science at the University of Dodoma in Tanzania.
They are joining the public universities at a critical time when these institutions have accumulated a debt of more than Sh60 billion and are struggling to access new funding streams.
Mr Machogu, through a gazette notice, appointed Ahmed Sheikh Adullai, Darmain Ole Warkae, Caren Kerubo Omwenga, and Sally Ngeringwony as members of the UoN Council.
Prof David Serrem will lead Chuka University as chairperson while its members will be Crispus Micheni, Linet Kwambka, Samuel Gacheru, Zephania Rwanda, and Margaret Makhungu.
Former Education chief administrative secretary Sara Ruto takes over as the chairperson at Kisii University. Dr Ruto, a former education lecturer at Kenyatta University, was the chairman of Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) before becoming CAS in the Uhuru Kenyatta regime that lapsed last September.
Prof Naftali Omolo Ongati takes over as the chair at Maseno University where Matida Chemutai, Darius Getanda, and Ponyochi Kunyombo have been picked as members.
Pamela Sitienei is the new Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology Council chairperson while Mohamed Salim Badamana and Peter Salim Ndemo will head Pwani University and Turkana University College respectively.
Other universities that have got new council members are Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Laikipia University, Maasai Mara, South Eastern Kenya, and the Technical University of Mombasa.
Kenyan public universities have been feeling the heat of funding, exposing them to various challenges including the delivery of quality teaching and research in an environment where limited budget has hurt research, payment of salaries, and facilities revamp.
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