Lawmakers order audit on KU Kigali, Arusha campuses
Kenyatta University Vice-Chancellor Paul Wainaina when he appeared before the National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education at Parliament Buildings in Nairobi on Wednesday, October 11.
What you need to know:
- Kenyatta University may have bought Kigali property at inflated price.
- MPs accuse the university’s management of wasting public funds through botched projects.
Parliament has ordered a forensic audit on the Sh618 million that Kenyatta University (KU) spent to acquire its campus in Kigali, Rwanda, even as former Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i distanced himself from a directive to shut it down.
The National Assembly Public Investment Committee on Education, which is chaired by Bumula MP Jack Wamboka, has directed Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu to investigate after it emerged that KU may have bought the two properties at inflated prices.
KU spent Sh420.7 million to open the Kigali campus and a further Sh98 million before it was shut in 2018 without admitting a single student. It also spent Sh53 million to open the Arusha campus before it was similarly closed.
The committee questioned Education CS Ezekiel Machogu, KU Vice-Chancellor Paul Wainaina, former KU Vice-Chancellor Olive Mugenda and Dr Matiang’i over the acquisition of the Kigali campus and opening of the Arusha campus in Tanzania. Dr Matiang’i, who addressed the meeting via a Zoom video call from Washington DC, denied claims that he ordered the closure of the two satellite campuses.
“The decision to close the campuses was made by the government after the host countries made it impossible for the university to operate in Rwanda and Tanzania,” Dr Matiangi said.
Dr Matiangi told the MPs that the government tried in vain to intervene and engage the authorities in Rwanda through the Foreign Affairs ministry.
“They even amended the law to make it difficult for our campuses to operate in Kigali and Arusha. I think they had problems with our institutions setting shop there,” he said.
“The Rwanda Commission for Higher Education and the Tanzania Commission for Universities ordered the closure of the campuses”due to failure to meet quality standards, he added.
Dr Matiang’i said his predecessor, Prof Jacob Kaimenyi, was the one in office when the process s was initiated.
“By the time I was moved to the Ministry of Education, the work of establishing campuses was underway so it is not accurate to say that I authorised them,” Dr Matiang’i said.
“The case of the two campuses in Kigali and Arusha was so acrimonious that it almost came to a government-to-government negotiation. We didn’t order the campuses to be closed. Everyone was put in a difficult position.”
Prof Wainaina, who sat in the tender committee that sanctioned the purchase of the two Kigali campus buildings, said they may have been overpriced.
He revealed that, despite the National Treasury authorising KU to dispose of the two Kigali buildings at a minimum of Sh511 million, the university has been unable to get a buyer, let alone a tenant to rent it.
Prof Mugenda said Rwandan and Kenyan authorities approved the establishment of the campuses and that valuation was done by the Rwandan government and a private valuer.
“Rwandan officials visited the campus and found it fit for purpose. I sent a team to negotiate the purchase price down from $3.6 million to $3 million,” Prof Mugenda said.
Mr Wamboka accused KU’s management of directly procuring the Kigali properties in a decision that has now led to wastage of public funds through the botched projects.
