Nairobi — Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has clarified that the government will continue funding public universities following a backlash from education stakeholders after he announced plans to suspend the same.
CS Machogu on Tuesday said his sentiments which he made at Dedan Kimathi University last weekend had been taken out of context, saying that all he asked was for Universities to also explore other ways of generating revenues so as to complement government capitation.
Machogu who was speaking at the Kiambu Institute of Science and Technology assured that the government will never stop funding public varsities.
"Nobody said that university funds are going to be done away with, our universities relax, the government will continue funding universities. All I am asking is what I said in Dedan Kimathi that if there are other ways of generating income in our universities why not," Machogu stated.
CS Machogu said that there should be no cause for alarm regarding universities funding, noting that the funds are ring fenced and no one can interfere with them.
"The allocated capitiation which includes sh 50 billion for universities and another sh 15 billion allocated to the Higher Education Loans Board is ring fenced and no one can interfere with it. Even the cost cutting measures being implemented in other departments can't interfere with these allocations," he said.
He also committed to ensure the implementation of Kenya Kwanza government campaign pledge of increasing University research funding.
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"In the Kenya Kwanza manifesto if you look at the education charter we have promised to increase research funding from the current 0.8 per cent to 2 per cent," stated Machogu.
On Monday University Academic Staff Union (UASU) vowed to block any attempts by the CS to stop funding universities saying the move could disenfranchise economically disadvantaged students.
UASU Secretary General Constantine Wasonga lamented that public universities are in a serious crisis of underfunding due to insufficient capitation, making the running of university affairs nearly impossible.
He noted that current fees for government-sponsored students stand at Sh16,000 per semester, way below market rates.
"If public universities are given free will to charge fees at a market rate this will be very expensive. This means university education will only be accessed by the rich and we will not allow that," Wasonga stated.
Wasonga also faulted CS Machogu for suggesting that public universities should be innovative so as to raise the much needed revenues required to run the institutions.
He said that public universities are government entities and the sole responsibility of funding and running them lies with the government.
"Why is it that only public universities are being asked to be innovative and not other government departments? By definition a public university means it's public and it's government sponsored," he stated.
