Presbyterian University of East Africa given six months to comply with law

By Paul Wafula and David Odongo

Kenya: The Presbyterian University of East Africa (PUEA), which is at the centre of academic, management and financial scandals, has less than six months to comply with requirements of getting a Charter or have its licence revoked.

Commission for University Education (CUE) gave the university the deadline. CUE has termed the move by the varsity to mount courses it has not approved as ‘illegal’.

Monday, students put the administration under pressure seeking explanations over the saga. Most didn’t attend classes. They wanted to know what is happening at the university and their fate given that some of the courses they are studying have not been unaccredited. 

Fisheries Principal Secretary nominee Japhet Ntiba declined to comment on the university examination scandal. He instead directed us to speak to the management of the institution, which was for the better part of Monday holed up in a crisis meeting.

Mount course

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Prof Ntiba has been caught in the mess, having been the university’s council chairman at a time when the institution was allegedly ‘cooking’ results for students to graduate. 

“Please speak to the university. I don’t know where those things happened,” Ntiba told The Standard.

Ntiba will be vetted on Wednesday by Parliamentary Committee on Appointments at 11am.  CUE boss David Some told The Standard since the university is yet to receive a Charter, it doesn’t have the leeway to mount any course before it is approved.

 It was not clear what punishment would be handed out for this violation. Universities get Letters of Interim Authority while receiving guidance and direction from CUE in order to prepare them for award of a Charter.

Prof Some revealed that the university has not been meeting some of the requirements to get its new courses approved.

“The university has come to us with a number of courses, some of them which are in the field of medicine. We have sent them back to prepare until they meet the necessary conditions,” Some said. Lecturers revealed how students were granted degrees with cooked up results.