SAM’S SENSE: University and politics

Over the last one month, President William Ruto has pledged close to Ksh.2 billion to build two universities. One in Emurua Dikirr constituency in Narok County and another in Ol Kalou to be the Nyandarua University.

Each of the announcements was made at funeral of the local Member of Parliament, and as expected received with great appreciation by mourners.

In the Nyandarua case, the President begun with a Ksh.20 million declaration to buy land for the university and then another Ksh.100 million was offered.

“Hiyo Ksh.100 million, nataka shule ya Salient, wale walitusaidia mahali pao, wachukue Ksh.20 million. Ksh.80 million tuje tuanzishe tuition block.,” he said on April 8.

“Tumewapatia Ksh.350 million to build university na hostels. Nitakuwa hapa in one month kuanzisha hiyo university,” he said on the same day.

“Na nimewapea watu wa Nyandarua Ksh.1 billion ya kuendesha university ya Nyandarua.”

A month ago, President Ruto told Emurua Dikirr constituents of his plans for them.

“Nitakutafutia Ksh.20 million utafute shamba ya university. In the next 2-3 weeks iwe imekamilika,” he said on March 6.

Then he announced that the Housing and Urban Development Principal Secretary Charles Hinga had been instructed to build a university.

“PS Hinga nishamwambia tayari ya kwamba tutatoa pesa ya serikali Ksh.750 million kuanzisha university na kujenga hostels ya Watoto,” he announced then.

Indeed, it is commendable to expand access to education across the country. But there are contextual issues to consider.

Today, there are 84 institutions of higher learning that offer degree programmes. 36 of them are public universities. There are 7 public university constituent colleges. These institutions are distributed across 34 counties. There are 32 private universities, majority of them situated in Nairobi. Now, most universities especially the public ones carry in their name, “University of science and technology”. Yet, most of them offer art-based programmes.

Over the last three years we have been told that most of our public universities were or are insolvent. This reported reality was the basis of a new university funding model to save the institutions that were facing collapse. Well, there is no evidence to show that the said institutions are now back to good financial standing.

In fact, some of the oldest universities are struggling with debts and bloated staff. Some have even attempted to declare staff redundancies, but stopped by the courts. You know why? Because they owe hundreds of millions to staff and suppliers.

And here we are committing billions for brick and mortar for future universities, with no budgets on how they will be run. Because universities need facilities beyond lecture halls, they need academic staff, researchers, science labs and equipment. Universities are more useful when research leads to informed decisions in the society.

And yes, it may feel good to be the Member of Parliament who brought a university to your village. But when an institution is built just to satisfy a political aspiration hoping to convert the influence into votes next time IEBC calls, where is the sense of planning. Do we actually have a university access problem?

When the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central placement Service (KUCCPS) declares first year slots that are more than the qualifying candidates, do we really have a gap?

And at a time that CBE learners are anxious about their transition to university education, based on the reality that most universities are yet to align with the CBE philosophy, is brick and mortar the more important investment?

And we hear that there are plans to establish more universities in the coming months, and yes, there are 47 counties. But surely there doesn't have to be 47 public universities just for the sake of political feel-good. Universities serve a higher purpose; centres of excellence in specific disciplines. To be sure, have we actually thought about it?

These are many questions, but I guess the sense is in the answers they evoke.