Why Baringo doesn’t have a public university, many years on
A signage at the proposed Baringo Technical College, Kapsoo, Baringo Central. Local leaders are pushing to have the institution, a brainchild of late President Daniel Arap Moi elevated into the first ever public university in Baringo County
The politics surrounding the setting up of a public university in Baringo County have resurfaced in the ongoing elections campaigns.
The plan has dragged on for nine years since the inception of devolution in 2013. It is all because of disagreements among political leaders and locals over its location.
The matter came up during a peace dialogue involving candidates for elective seats in Baringo Central organised by the Inter-Religious Council of Kenya, with voters expressing concern.
Bishop Yusuf Losute of the African Inland Church (AIC) Chemolingot in Tiaty sub-county questioned local leaders on their goodwill to settle the wrangles surrounding the establishment of a university.
“This matter has been a thorn in the flesh for thousands of locals in this region since the advent of devolution due to wrangles over its location. As leaders from this region, what plans do you have to settle it once and for all to allow us to have a public university?” Bishop Losute posed.
A section of administration block at the Baringo Technical College, Kapsoo, Baringo Central. Establishment of a public university in Baringo county remains a mirage, nine years down the line due to wrangles by leaders and locals over its location.
Sideshows
Baringo Deputy Governor Jacob Chepkwony urged leaders to avoid sideshows and agree on the location of the university.
Mr Chepkwony had proposed that Moi Teachers College in Seretunin, Baringo Central, be elevated to a university to end the location row. He said the college has adequate structures and land to host the proposed public university.
“We cannot continue having differences over the location of the university. There is enough land and structures in Seretunin and we should all agree on this matter so that our children can learn and for us to boost the economic status of this region,” he said, adding that locals had welcomed the idea and leaders should lead the way.
Governor Stanley Kiptis and area MP Joshua Kandie have been sucked into the university politics, accused of misleading Deputy President William Ruto on the planned university’s location.
"We heard that the duo met with the DP and advised him that the university be located in Kapsoo. They never consulted locals and they do not represent the opinion of residents,” said elders from Kapsoo.
Brainwashed
They hit out at local leaders, accusing them of being brainwashed to the point that anything the DP says is unchallenged, even if it is against the will of locals.
They also accused the DP of only coming to Baringo to undermine development projects spearheaded by President Moi.
The DP previously appealed to President Moi before his demise to support him in the bid to establish a public university in Kabarnet township.
“Just as he built several universities in other regions during his tenure, so will I do in Kabarnet for the benefit of children of this country,” Dr Ruto said in the past.
The Baringo County Assembly passed a motion in 2015 to establish a university at Chemeron, a proposal endorsed by the majority of members. The motion was moved by the minority leader at the time, Wesley Lekakimon.
Cheap politicking
Labour Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui observed that the row on the planned university was aggravated by cheap politicking by local leaders.
He said more than Sh2 billion had been set aside by the national government for the proposed university but the project was yet to start due to wrangles over its location.
“We have seen institutions of higher learning in Baringo closing their campuses due to petty politics as other counties progress. We cannot organise ourselves and ensure that a university is established in this region because of wrangles over its location,” said Mr Chelugui.
More than five university campuses in the region have been closed down in a span of five years, all blamed on lack of political goodwill.
The most recent casualty was Kisii University’s Baringo campus, which was closed on May 1, 2018. More than 1,000 students were transferred to the university’s main campus in Kisii and to Eldoret, Kapenguria and Kericho.
Other institutions that have shut their campuses in Kabarnet for similar reasons include Uganda-based Bugema University, Mount Kenya University, Egerton University and the Kenya Institute of Management.
Baringo South residents, led by community steering committee chairman William Tengecha, said they had been pushing for a university to be set up in the region but local leaders had not shown any commitment.
Fighting
Some leaders, led by former Baringo Central MP Sammy Mwaita, have been fighting to have the university set up at Kapsoo in the constituency, while most residents want it located at Chemeron, where more than 1,100 acres have been aside for the project.
The late Baringo South MP Grace Kipchoim and Mr Mwaita had demanded to have it built in their respective constituencies.
Mr Mwaita wanted Baringo Technical Institute converted into a university, but this did not go down well with a majority of residents, who felt the move would spell doom for technical training for students who could not proceed to university.
The proposal was also rejected by President Moi, who repeatedly disagreed with a plan to convert Baringo Technical College into a university, terming it ill-advised and counterproductive.
Moi said he pioneered the technical college with the vision of transforming the lives of youths who wanted to acquire technical skills and cautioned local leaders against any contrary plans.
Kapsoo elders also opposed setting up a university in the area instead of Chemeron in Baringo South. Led by Isaac Kosgei, they said locals had not been consulted.
“We feel that this is politics at play and some leaders are forcing some issues courtesy of their supremacy battles so as to achieve their own vested interests at the expense of our future generations,” Mr Kosgei said.
“Leaders allied to the ruling party are trying to intimidate Kanu and fight Moi’s family because it was the retired President’s idea to have the institution as a technical institute.”
College board
The technical college board, headed by Elijah Chemjor, argued that they would not approve its upgrading to a university because they already have students for the courses it offers.
Mr Kandie said leaders in the county should unite and agree on the location of the university once for all.
