Varsities on spot over new security directive

Two Mombasa County trucks were set a blaze by striking students of Technical University of Mombasa. The students were protesting over fee hike. (File, Standard)

A new push by Ministry of Education to compel public universities to enforce security measures to protect learners and property has raised weighty questions about compliance.

Education Cabinet Secretary Mohammed Amina has formed a new team to advise on the security situation in public universities and report within one month.

The 10-member committee gazzetted Friday led by KCA University’s Prof Noah Midamba is expected to review the security situation in public universities and advice on implication for teaching and learning.

University Education Principal Secretary Micheni Ntiba will be co-chairperson of the team whose membership includes Principal Secretaries of the National Treasury, Interior, Public Service and Youth Affairs ministries.

The Institute of Human Resource Management, Salaries and Remuneration Commission and the Retirement Benefits Authority are also represented in the team.

Anne Kaiga and Philip Nyingi will be the joint secretaries to the committee.

The development set to expose the universities commitment to government directives comes two years after former Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi instructed Commission for University Education (CUE) to enforce the institutions security measures.

In his directive issued in 2016, Dr Matiangi instructed CUE to ensure that universities installed systems that would capture staff and students data.

“Under Section 5 (1) of the Universities Act, 2012, the commission is mandated with the responsibility of collecting, disseminating and maintaining data on university education in Kenya. Pursuant to this section, I now direct you to require all universities and constituent colleges, within the next one hundred and twenty days from the date of this letter to comply,” reads the directive by Matiang’i.

The directive that should have guaranteed safety of learners and property was based on Universities Standards and Guidelines on Security and Safety report generated by the universities.

An implementation matrix seen by the Saturday Standard, which was part of the report reveals that some of the proposals were to be implemented immediately while some were to be rolled out within one year.

Two years later a survey in most public universities indicate that many have not complied fully with directive.

 

Most private institutions have attempted to install biometric data capture systems and CCTVs.

Vice Chancellors of public universities accused CUE of abandoning the quest to push the institutions to comply.

While issuing the directive, Matiang’i said that the Garissa University attack that took place three years ago exposed the vulnerability and lack of capacity of the universities to deal with modern security challenges.

“It is therefore imperative for the ministry of education to come up with a policy on safety and security for all universities,” said Matiang’i.

The guidelines recommended improving surveillance, screening of staffs and students, installation of security cameras, dealing with false alarms and reducing the number of places where ‘devises’ may be left or dropped.