Nairobi — It has now emerged that the current financial crisis facing bedeviling Public Universities has been precipitated by the ongoing financing model of state institutions mandated to fund the higher learning institutions.
In the revelations made before the Public Investment Committee on Education and Governance it has been unearthed that since 2016 the State Department of Higher Education and Research has disbursed Sh 12Billion to private varsities since 2016.
In the 2021/2022 private universities were allocated Sh3.3 billion, in 2020/2021 they were allocated Sh2.7 billion, in 2019/2020 they were allocated Sh1.9 billion.
In the year 2021-2022, top five private universities that received the highest number of students are Mount Kenya University (5,489), Catholic University of East Africa (2,691), KCA University (2,724), Kabarak University (2,157) and Zetech University (1,673)
While the University Act 42 of 2012 clause 56 (1a) allows the placement of the government sponsored students to all Universities and Colleges there was no influx of government sponsored students to occasion their placement to Private learning institutions.
The Principal Secretary for Higher Education Beatrice Muganda was at pains to explain why the government was funding private higher learning institutions on the basis of placement of students yet the private universities could accommodate them.
"We are seeing grants to private universities yet our public universities are suffering and are on the verge of collapsing. Are we seeing the funding of the private universities at the expense of the public universities?" posed the chair of the committee, Jack Wamboka.
Muganda however defended his docket outlining that the University Act had given the Kenya University and College Placement Board the leeway to place students in private universities based on their university of choice.
With the law granting the placement board the authority to place students in the 35 private owned universities under the financing program of the government, they have no other obligation as the process is lawful.
"The situation may not be tenable especially for public universities but our hands are tied by the law and any decision not tied to the law might lead to litigations," the PS said.
Crisis in Public Universities
The introduction of government sponsored students to be placed in private owned universities started in 2015 during the retired President Uhuru Kenyatta regime.
The government made the move to address the issue of congestion in public varsities due to lack of space to accommodate students in various programs.
The concern however is that the number of government sponsored students joining private universities has been on a steady increase despite available spaces to accommodate them in public universities.
The placement board has defended its move to place students based in private universities saying the process is done based on the student's choice.
For example, in the 2021 universities placement, private universities received a total 28,063 students, higher than the 27,447 placed to the universities in the previous year.
In the same year, universities which include Taita Taveta University, which had declared 1,795 slots received only 524 students representing 29 percent, Turkana University, which had declared a total of 1,130 slots and only received 518 students ,Grate Lakes University of Kisumu, which had declared 2,550 slots but has only received 224 students representing 8 percent.
Deliberate Stifling
Isiolo Woman Representative Mumina Bonaya pointed out that the fee regime for private universities is quite high as compared to the state-owned universities and therefore any student seeking to be placed in the institution is financially endowed.
The Former Chief Administrative Secretary for Education decried that despite the scenario the government was blindly focusing on funding students in private institutions stifling the public universities.
"The payment to the private owned universities is to benefit the elite who can afford the fee. We are currently killing the public universities by benefiting the public universities," Bonaya said.
Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda raised queries on why billions of shillings were being allocated to the private owned universities given that they are not audited.
Lesuuda mentioned that a collusion of certain individuals within the Education docket were working in earnest to ensure that funds are disbursed to the private entities creating a loophole to steal public funds as the money are not audited in most financial years.
"There was clearly malice in amending the law. We will have to interrogate this issue further and ascertain that indeed universities were full to occasion the students being placed in private universities,"
"I believe that we have not concluded on this matter and we will request a proper audit on the funds disbursed to the private universities," Lesuuda said.
Lungalunga MP Munga Mangale insisted that the cartel of individuals in the Higher Education Department out to ensure that private institutions are favored at the expense of the state-owned universities must be destroyed.
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"We are seeing a protective territory in favor of a certain territory and we are seeing a club that is protected and in this case it's the private institution and all this is being done on the basement of the so-called University Act," said Mangale.
Muganda however implored the MPs to give her docket time to iron out the issues of funding to public universities pointing out that the presidential task force on education reforms is working on solving the current scenario.
She averred that the proposal on amalgamation of all the state agencies and boards mandated to fund higher learning institutions and students will iron out the current cash crunch issue.
"We are well guided by this committee and moving forward we will prioritize the public universities. We are awaiting the recommendation of the presidential task force which recommends the amalgamation of the funding agencies to avoid duplication and double entry of students," Muganda stated.
Education Stakeholders have proposed the merging of bodies of university bodies mandated to fund higher learning institutions which include HELB and University Fund.
