Jubilee legacy on higher education hugely troubling

President Uhuru Kenyatta unveils construction of the proposed Bomet University College in Bomet town. [Photo: File, Standard]

In June 2014, my alma mater in Germany, the University of Bayreuth, convened its biennial alumni meeting in the former capital of Bonn. Part of the activities involved a stop at the DAAD headquarters, the German education exchange programme widely known for funding higher education globally. In

Africa, we learnt, the partnership between DAAD and Kenya was one of the most productive in the continent with regard to training of doctoral students through scholarships, in country funding and joint sponsorship of students with German universities.

Regrettably, the entry of the Jubilee administration in 2013 and some of its policies on education appear to have eroded this partnership.

The Jubilee’s dogged determination to procure laptops for Standard One pupils came with a hefty price. Unbeknown to many, the allocation of nearly Sh15 billion every financial year since Jubilee came to power signaled a consequent decline in funding for higher education. In particular, Kenya was forced to withdraw from some collaborative frameworks that have for years facilitated training of some top scientists.

Choices had consequences

The claim that choices had consequences was no longer an idle joke. In the discussions that followed, panelists painted a gloomy situation of the Kenyan higher education in a context of problematic budgetary priorities and the unplanned expansion of universities. While some of the problems affecting higher education are clearly not the making of the Jubilee administration, an assessment of higher education in the last four years reveals that Jubilee’s score is, at best, mediocre.

To many Kenyans, the recent Commission for University Education (CUE) report ordered by Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i was a sign of seriousness from an individual who had already made a mark in reforming a rogue exam structure.

However, while examination reforms at lower levels improve quality at higher levels, the subsequent state interventions aimed at re-positioning universities were not only too late in the day, but were incapable of addressing fundamental issues troubling higher education in Kenya. The audit notwithstanding, the legacy the Jubilee administration has so far established in higher education is uninspiring.

First, the budget priorities from 2014 to date show depressed funding for higher education and a preference for horizontal rather than vertical university growth. Since 2014, the entire Education Ministry operates on an average of Sh330 billion, most of which goes to the Teachers Service Commission as payment of salaries. In the recent budget estimates released by the National Treasury CS, Sh83 billion is allocated to higher education of which less than 0.1 per cent is for research or staff development.

While so much is expected of university staff, the State continues to sow sparingly financially. For instance, the government requires that all academics teaching in universities must be in possession of a PhD in a couple of years, yet little is invested in developing staff. In the meantime, the capitation from the Treasury remains stagnated, despite increasing numbers of both students and universities. As such, since 2014, public universities are almost always broke.

Secondly, and disturbingly common with the Jubilee administration, the establishment of constituent universities has been frequently politicised. Most of the constituent universities being established are the outworking of supremacy wars and political expedience than actual needs. In most cases, the setting up of these universities has seen the most blatant of recklessness, often accompanied by the total disregard of the interventions of regulatory institutions.

In these circumstances, not only were institutions such as CUE merely used as rubber-stamps, but more worryingly, the State became the willing pallbearer to some of the ideals of higher education.

The Bomet case is archetypal of many a recent constituent universities. The idea to establish a constituent university in the South Rift appeared noble. It would address the increasing demands for higher education in the country.

As per CUE guidelines, 65 acres of land was set aside in Sigor for its establishment. Jubilee’s honchos were not amused. The project was seen as gifting Governor Isaac Ruto a political mileage at a time when he was spearheading a revolt in the ruling party. Local politicians were prompted into action. The sluggish town of Bomet became the scene of demonstrations pitting the national and county governments.

Bullied CUE

In the resultant ruckus, the government bullied CUE, ignored both the National Land Commission and NEMA advisory and erected a sign post with the university’s name on a piece of land earlier assigned to diverse county projects. The entire process fell short of basic CUE guidelines for the establishment of a constituent university.

Today, as students at the university go about their lecturers, they have to put up with the stench of the county sewerage nearby, the regular funerary processions to the adjacent cemetery and the unsightly hazard that is the county dumping site all of which share one address. The CUE guidelines that university land must be free of encumbrances were disregarded.

Similarly, when professionals in Baringo County agreed on Chemeron as that the site of the proposed Baringo University, a decision later endorsed by CUE, the government intervened, again. Top Jubilee executives believed that having a university in Chemeron was a political bonanza to Gideon Moi, the KANU chairman and a rival to Jubilee’s claims to Kalenjin patronage.

Later, with a hastily assembled bunch of Baringo notables, the Deputy President endorsed the establishment of the university in Kabarnet Township. The script worked out perfectly. The government shelved establishment of the Baringo University, citing “too much” bickering.

But the credit for the most brazen disregard of CUE guidelines is the ongoing establishment of a university in Gatundu. The university, in honour of Kenya’s founding First Lady, is to be set up in a 10-acre plot currently occupied by a primary school. The CUE guidelines provide that the minimum acreage for such a facility is 50 acres. Curiously, to allay fears of a purported demolition of the school, newspaper reports recorded a university boss assuring locals how the primary school would be co-opted as a training facility for Bachelor of Education students.

In a case of unconcealed ignorance of the meaning of higher education, the local MP was quoted as saying the university will adopt and nurture youth-based cottage industries for young people since the two village polytechnics will constitute the new university. The marriage of politics and higher education certainly makes for one troubled, abusive union.

If only these characterised the legacy of Jubilee with regard to higher education, it would not be terribly different from previous regimes. However, in the four years that Jubilee has been in power, unusual events have stalked universities.

 For the first time campuses were invaded by local politicians clamouring for individuals from the adjoining villages to head these institutions. To date, CUE as a regulatory body is still begging for autonomy from politicians.

Moreover, the Kanu era malfeasance of coercing university bosses to support dubious harambees is back. Further, universities have become the latest target of tenderpreneurs. Rogue State agents are increasingly overzealous in pushing for specific infrastructural projects in universities for which top politicians singularly tender. Another five years of the same would be too steep a price to pay for universities in Kenya.