The war in South Sudan has hampered investment and expansion opportunities for the Kenya Methodist University, which had finalised its plans of establishing a campus in the Africa's newest state.

A delegation of experts and analysts has been sent by the East African Community Summit to South Sudan, which has applied to join the EAC, to assess whether it can be a member and according KeMU administration is optimistic that the approval will be granted.

KeMU Deputy Vice Chancellor Dr Kobia Ataya said the war being experienced in South Sudan is scaring away investors and as an organisation with great expectations in the region, they have to wait until peace is guaranteed before they open their first campus in the country. And speaking at KeMU main campus in meru yesterday, Vice Chancellor Prof Alfred Mutema said: "We intend to train young people by initiating programmes that will benefit them in acquiring skills to invest in the East Africa region. The main aim of KeMU to become a regional study centre."

To realise this dream, Prof Mutema said they have held lengthy discussions with the Vice President of South Sudan and the Governor of Equatorial Area who have given out 100 acres and four hectares in the capital city of Juba for the purpose. Prof Mutema said the university will offer ICT and science degree courses at the new campuses. "In addition to the two campuses, we will also initiate an International Centre at Yeyi for training diplomas and degree courses, which are being packaged to suit the demands of the region," said Prof Mutema.

He added that in realization to their goals, Tanzania has approved establishment of the University and have opened a campus which will start training students in Science and that ten masters students will report to the campus in June.