Academic capture: Kenyan universities paying dearly for deep ethnic roots

To add spice to the current wrangle, the local community around the university have gone ahead to issue an apology to former Vice Chancellor Prof. Laban Ayiro who they hounded out of office in 2016, as evidenced by a video which is making rounds on social media platforms. 

Prof. Ayiro, who was honored with the “Best Vice Chancellor in Kenya” award at the Uongozi Awards five days ago, was in 2016 ejected from office by locals and leaders from Uasin Gishu and Elgeyo-Marakwet counties who led the demonstrations against him. Comically, they are now seeking his forgiveness in the viral video for the ill they committed against him, alleging they were misled by their leaders.

Ethnicity roots in universities 

Tragic comedy aside, public audits, as far as 2016, revealed the obvious; that public universities in Kenya were employing as much as 80% from one ethnic group. The report said that eighteen universities tucked deep within various communities in Kenya were most affected. 

Scholars who have experienced the ugly side of this nationalistic tendencies have warned of the threat of academic capture of universities, which has led mediocrity and compromised meritocracy in appointments to important positions in these tertiary institutions. 

As late as 2019/2020, the Auditor General’s report flagged some institutions like Kirinyaga University for having 77 percent of its employees from the area inhabited by the University. They were not alone, Kibabii University had 75.2 percent of its employees coming from the locality within which it is located.

Interestingly in 2021, in Turkana County, for almost one year there ensued a standoff between the top leadership of Turkana University College and the local community. The wrangle drew in the local leadership led by the Governor of Turkana County, then Mr. Josephat Nanok against the university leadership. 

Nanok accused the Turkana University College leadership of bias especially in filling up vacancies at the university in favor of non-locals, the local leaders vowed “to protect the institution like their own child.”

The whole debacle began when in January 2020, the substantive Principal of Turkana University College, Prof. Thomas Akuja, was sent on compulsory leave for defying his employer’s directives, misappropriation of funds and abuse of office. Subsequent college principals faced the heat from the local leadership who insinuated that running the academic institution could only be done by consulting them on many fronts but principally, the hiring of university staff.

In 2018, Meru University experienced a stand-off between students and the university management that severely interrupted learning at the University for a whole academic year. The university leadership accused the student leaders of hooliganism and political partisanship as the students stood their ground, accusing the university leadership of financial mismanagement and witch-hunting of those opposed to the Vice Chancellor. Dr. Kilemi Mwiria, a resident of the Tigania West, the location of Meru University and a former Assistant Minister for Education. 

For almost three years preceding 2021, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology suffered a deep conflict in leadership.  In August 2021, the institution hired a vice-chancellor after operating without one for 33 months. Council members were accused of working with union officials to undermine the running of the university. It was always one group against the other, with let no let-up in sight.

Captivity in universities 

To date, many public institutions and particularly public universities and State-sponsored colleges have continued to violate laws on equal employment opportunities despite the National Government's vacillating efforts to end negative ethnicity.

Public universities in Kenya have continued to be held captive by ethnic bastions where they are located and instead of becoming centers of academic excellence and concentrating on ground-breaking research, they have continued to wallow in the mud of village politics or capture by local influence peddlers. This unfortunately leaves students exposed to negative ethnicity as they miss the train of digital global trends and relevance to emerging job market dictates. 

It is perplexing that since 2018, the amendment to the law regulating appointment of top managers in public universities became operational but it seems to no avail. The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2018 amended Section 35 of the Universities Act 2012 by restructuring the processes and procedures for appointment of Vice Chancellors, Deputy Vice Chancellors, Principals and Deputy Principals. This particular amendment takes away the important element of recruitment of VCs from universities councils to the Public Service Commission of Kenya.

In times gone by, university councils advertised, processed and conducted interviews and recommended the chosen candidate to the CS Education. They ran the show, they determined the appointments. However, it was felt that public participation was not factored in and transparency was missing. 

Currently, the new amendment says, Vice Chancellors of public universities shall be appointed by the University Council in consultation with the Cabinet Secretary, after a competitive process conducted by the Public Service Commission.

Many academicians are of the opinion that the university's top leaders should be hired on merit and should strictly be professional managers. They also feel that only non-locals within the areas where the institutions are domiciled be appointed to avoid being influenced by the local community politics. 

This, they feel may stifle negative ethnicity, and other biases in hiring staff at the university while allowing the top leaders to deliver on placing the university within the global academic map.