Moi University freezes hiring, to merge campuses

Moi University main campus. [File, Standard]

Moi University has frozen hiring of staff and casuals in what management insists is one way of cutting down on costs.

The university is keen to cut down on expenditure on salaries and focus on provision of world class education. It currently has more than 3,000 workers drawn from administrative and academic clusters.

The number includes casuals, who make up the biggest number, stratified across all its campuses. Vice Chancellor Isaac Kosgey, who is five months into the job, said the institution is no longer hiring as it bids to up its monthly savings.

“We are working on rationalisation and improving efficiency. By the close of the year, we would have saved close to Sh250 million,” said Prof Kosgey.

Kosgey said the freeze has saved more than Sh20 million in a span of three months.

The institution, whose main campus is in Kesses, Uasin Gishu County, has stopped replacing employees going for retirement and is now promoting in-house staff to these positions as another way of controlling the ballooning wage bill.

“Even as we continue to make savings, we want to reduce all operational burdens especially those not related to the core business of the university. We have a strategy to support the core business of teaching and research,” said the Vice chancellor.

Already, Kericho and Nakuru campus have been shut down by the management even as it embarks on substantially trimming down operations in Kitale, Mombasa and Odera Akango.

“Our mission is to ensure all campuses within Eldoret are under one roof to cut on  expenses,” said Kosgey.