Baraton closes campuses in austerity move
University of Eastern Africa, Baraton. It is trying to manoeuvre out of financial mismanagement. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Prof Maiyo said the institution has struggled to clear pending bills amounting to more than Sh600 million owed to suppliers and other creditors.
The University of Eastern Africa, Baraton has closed four campuses and sacked 300 staff to reduce the high wage bill and help it remain afloat.
The campuses closed are in Nairobi, Kisumu, Kisii and Eldoret, and the affected students have all been admitted to the main campus in Chepterit, Nandi County.
The university, run by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, has also scrapped a number of courses it deems unnecessary.
The university's vice-chancellor, Prof Philip Maiyo, on Tuesday said the institution has struggled in the past two years to clear pending bills amounting to over Sh600 million owed to suppliers and other creditors.
"Because of mismanagement in the past, Baraton University, which was the first private university to be given a charter in 1991 by retired President Daniel Moi, suffered greatly,” Prof Maiyo said.
STABILITY
He added that the austerity measures are meant to put the university back on track.
“When I took over three years ago, Baraton was collapsing because of high wage bill and pending bills. Suppliers were demanding over Sh600 million pending since 2016.
"We have implemented changes to reduce mismanagement and the university is now stable. We owe nobody anything," he said, adding that the staff retrenchment had been conducted fairly, and those released were paid all their dues.
The VC revealed that the university had lost a number of lecturers, especially foreign ones, after going for a long time without pay.
