Court freezes appointment of Kenyatta University Vice Chancellor

 Kenyatta University in Nairobi. Prof Waceke Wanjohi says she applied for the VC post and successfully attended the interviews.  [File, Standard]

Kenyatta University (KU) may not have a new Vice Chancellor soon after the High Court in Kiambu froze the recruitment.

Justice Njoki Mwangi barred the university council from recruiting Prof Paul Wainaina’s successor and from taking disciplinary action against Prof Waceke Wanjohi until the case she filed on Thursday is settled.

“Leave hereby granted shall operate as a temporary injunction barring the respondents, jointly and severally, whether by themselves, their servants, agents, or howsoever, from filling the position of Vice Chancellor, Kenyatta University, or appointing any other person than the applicant, to the position of Vice Chancellor, Kenyatta University, pending the hearing and determination of these proceedings,” ruled Justice Njoki.

Prof Waceke sued Education Cabinet Secretary Migos Ogamba, the Attorney General Dorcas Oduor, the Public Service Commission and KU Council.

She stated that she applied for the VC position when the council called for interested persons.

 Waceke told the court she allegedly emerged the best during the interviews.

“The applicant is aware that her performance was exemplary and she is reliably informed that she was ranked as the best candidate for appointment as Vice Chancellor,” said Waceke, adding that she was kept in the dark upon the recommendation.

Nevertheless, she stated that the Ministry, the PSC and the council allegedly commenced disciplinary proceedings against her.

Waceke, who is a plant nematology and pathology expert, claimed that the move was meant to ensure that she does not clinch the top university job.

“The purported disciplinary proceedings against the Applicant are deviously timed to coincide with the necessary appointment of the Vice Chancellor and if they are permitted to proceed at this stage, they will effectively have shut her out of the race for appointment to the position for at least the next 10 years,” she argued.

Waceke argued that the Education Ministry failed to call the council headed by the Prof Clara Momanyi-led council and the PSC to order.

She argued that the two had no power to sit on the appointment panel or appoint a different VC other than herself.

The agriculture Professor asserted that it was unfair and against her legitimate right for the commission, and the council to decide that she would not take KU’s top seat.

“If the applicant is by the unlawful and dastardly scheme hatched against her, unfairly shut out of the position of Vice Chancellor at this juncture, the substance of this dispute - being the appointment of Vice Chancellor - will be permanently alienated, and the applicant will suffer irreparable loss and damage that will render these proceedings nugatory and an academic exercise,” she said.

Waceke wants the court to order the CS to appoint her as VC, as recommended by the panel in March.

At the same time, she is seeking orders to bar the PSC and the council from appointing any other person.

Waceke wants the court to quash the disciplinary process.