University of Nairobi staff face job loss after major restructuring
University of Nairobi council chair Julia Ojiambo, Vice Chancellor Stephen Kiama and council member Marie Rarieya during a press conference announcing changes in governance structure, July 9, 2021.
What you need to know:
- Prof Ojiambo said the structure was informed by the centrality of teaching, research and innovations and the need to avoid duplication and cut costs.
Hundreds of teaching and non-teaching staff at the University of Nairobi (UoN) are staring at job losses following abolishment of major faculties and colleges.
UoN has a total of 4,000 staff - 1,500 teaching and 2,500 non-teaching staff.
Council chair, Prof Julia Ojiambo, on Friday announced abolishment of five offices of deputy vice chancellors and replaced them with two positions of associate VCs.
The council has also abolished 24 colleges, reducing the number from 35 to 11, and reorganised all functions around faculties to avoid duplication of functions.
Further, Prof Ojiambo said all positions of principals and deputy principals and their roles have been reorganised under new positions of executive and associate deans as part of efforts to direct resources to faculties where teaching and learning take place.
“Abolished offices, merged functions and new functional positions have been aligned to the core mandate of the university,” she said.
The council chair added that in the major reforms, the 14 research institutes including Kavi Institute of Clinical Research, Wangari Mathai Institute (WMI) and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), will continue generating knowledge for communities.
Cutting costs
Prof Ojiambo explained that the restructuring was informed by the centrality of teaching, research and innovations, as well as the need to avoid duplication of roles and cut costs.
“To keep the boat afloat, administrative support services will be consolidated under various functions and respective professional heads, all reporting to a chief operating officer who directly answers to the vice chancellor,” she said.
VC Stephen Kiama said the new structure will ensure efficiency of the academic function.
“Most of the positions that have been abolished were being held on contractual basis,” Prof Kiama said, noting the reforms at the university began in 2018.
So far, more than 100 workers have lost their jobs as their contracts have not been renewed.
National concern
The reforms follow an update released on Thursday by the National Treasury on the financial constraints State corporations are facing.
Listing parastatals that need to undergo major reforms, Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani named universities UoN, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology(JKUAT), Moi University and Kenyatta University as some of the social service providers that have been operating below cost recovery.
The CS said the universities, among other State departments, have strong social mandates to deliver core services that are affecting cost recovery, resulting in the accumulation of arrears and are heavy dependence on government transfers.
In April, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) asked Kenya to overhaul three top public universities - UoN, Kenyatta and Moi - to save them from financial distress.
UoN was further named as running one of the biggest deficits and being unable to pay pensions and statutory deductions for its workers.
According to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), public universities have statutory debts amounting to Sh20.5 billion, in addition to amounts owed in the form of pension, workers’ savings in cooperative societies.
UoN leads with Sh5.9 billion for KRA and Sh2.9 billion for other statutory deductions.
Prof Ojiambo said: “We envision that these structural interventions will result in shorter decision turnaround time and greater fiscal discipline as evident in timely decisions support systems, value for money proposition and significant cost savings.”
