Gachagua: Grabbers would have laid hands on KU land
Deputy President (DP) Rigathi Gachagua on Friday announced that the contested Kenyatta University land will now fully be reverted to the institution.
He said only a small fraction of the land will be hived off to settle the Kamae squatters who have been claiming ownership of part of the land.
Mr Gachagua revisited his scathing attack on retired President Uhuru Kenyatta over the said land saying had Kenya Kwanza team lost the election, the institution would have lost its prime land to “grabbers.”
Mr Gachagua, who graced Kenyatta University 52nd Graduation Ceremony in Kiambu on Friday, was referring a row last year pitting KU Vice Chancellor Prof Paul Wainaina and the former regime, which saw the varsity boss ousted after he objected the move by the government to cede part of the university land to World Health Organisation, that intended to set up a logistics hub and a Regional Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Had thing's gone wrong, and William Ruto was not elected as president, your land had already been grabbed. We have hence instructed the Ministry of Lands to cancel those allocations and reinstate the land to Kenyatta University," Mr Gachagua said at Kenyatta University where 5,500 graduates were conferred and awarded degrees, diplomas and certificates in different fields.
The sacking of Prof Wainaina came just a few months to General election when Mr Kenyatta visited the institution for the ground-breaking of the contested project.
The former President angrily read the Riot Act to the opposing side led by Prof Wainaina saying they would face consequences and ultimately go home with him as he retires.
Prof Wainaina would later be suspended, then sacked.
The DP promised that in January next year, the government will convene a meeting between the Ministry of Lands and the Ministry of Education as well as the representatives of Kamae squatter to forge an agreement on how the stalemate of the land would be solved.
At the same time, Mr Gachagua took the opportunity to apologise to the university Vice-Chancellor for the humiliation he went through following the row that saw him sacked until the new regime intervened and saw him reinstated on November 3, 2022.
Mr Gachagua was accompanied by Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro among other leaders.
The DP appealed to the graduates to fight for their space in the competitive job market.
He said the government has created an enabling environment for local universities to expand and thrive by taking the universities at community levels through outreach programmes.
"The idea of moving our universities from ivory towers to villages was not meant to make tribal cocoons,’’ Mr Gachagua noted.
At the University of Nairobi, Mr Machogu, whose speech was read by Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang, called upon the administrators of public universities in the country to optimise their resources as a strategy of dealing with the acute cash crisis that is threatening to ground the operations of public universities in the country.
In the speech during UoN’s 68th Graduation Ceremony, Mr Machogu urged the universities to provide solutions instead of lamenting.
“From what we have seen in the universities and the higher education sector from the public participation, the issue that is coming up is governance and financing in these institutions. We look forward to your leadership as the academicians to give us solutions to this problem,” Mr Machogu said.
He also urged public universities to mobilise resources rather than relying on the government for funding.
Dr Kipsang also indicated the government is working on different aspects of education such as the basic education, TVET institutions and the universities through the Presidential Working Taskforce. The taskforce will issue recommendations to reform the education sector in the country.
An Auditor General’s report had indicated public universities in the country are facing a financial crisis that might ground operations.
Most of them are struggling to meet their obligations such as payroll taxes, retirement benefits.
Some of the astounding remittances according to data from the Universities Fund (UF) stand at whooping Sh56.3 billion. They include a PAYE bill of Sh13.7 billion, a pension bill of Sh18.5 billion, cooperative or Sacco contributions of Sh4.1 billion and Sh4.5 billion owed to part-time lecturers.
In an effort to alleviate the crisis, the Universities Fund has been seeking partners apart from government. They recently made a request to the World Bank looking for Sh2.4 billion to bail them out of the crisis.
