Students lose out in swoop on bogus colleges

By Karanja Njoroge

Hundreds of students in Nakuru town have been attending uncertified medical laboratory courses.

The Kenya Medical Laboratory Board says the students had enrolled at unregistered colleges.

The board conducted a raid in the town on Thursday and arrested seven people for teaching the courses without authorisation.

Among those arrested was the Principal of Pine Breeze Hospital College, which the officials said was offering the medical laboratory course illegally.

"These people are endangering the lives of Kenyans," said Mr Laban Omolo, the chairman of the Medical Laboratory Board standards committee.

At Menengai Medical Training College, the deputy principal and three lecturers were arrested.

Not approved

Shocked students broke into tears after they were informed the college was not approved to teach the course.

About 70 students at the college said they had paid Sh40,000 when they were admitted and later paid Sh27,000 for accommodation and tuition fees.

"I joined the institution in September last year and the management has been assuring us that it is registered to offer the course," one of the students said.

The students said they enrolled after they saw advertisements in the media.

Police thwarted an attempt by one of the tutors at Menengai College to flee.

Medical Laboratory Board members said they were shocked that the college was admitting students after every three months.

"It appears many parents have lost their money by enrolling their children in the college unaware that it is not registered," said a board official Raphael Gikera.

Omolo said only 14 institutions are registered countrywide to offer the Medical Laboratory Science Course. "In Nakuru Town the board has not approved any private college to offer the course," he said.

The officials later visited private laboratories in the town where they flushed out unqualified personnel running the facilities.