Haunted by banks, no rent, demotivated; Agony of Moi University dons owed Ksh.8.6B

Moi University, the second public University commissioned in Kenya, was the result of the presidential Working party set out in 1981 chaired by a renowned Canadian academic, Dr. Colin Mackay. 

President Moi upon getting acquainted with Dr. Mackay who was working in Kenya as an advisor at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was impressed by the academic curriculum in Canada. 

Mackay recommended the 8-4-4 system of Education to be closely aligned to the Canadian education model but with an emphasis on vocational training. 

Moi University was conceived to be a science, technology, and development-oriented institution that focuses on rural development but this largely remained with the vision bearers.

Unending strikes and Ksh.8.6 billion debt

When Moi University Academic staff downed their tools on August 26, 2024, it was not the first time the scenario was witnessed at the second-oldest University in Kenya. 

Lecturers have expressed a desire to continue teaching their students, but their rights to compensation are fulfilled by the institution and the government at large. 

At stake is Ksh.8.6 billion that Moi University owes its lecturers; a debt that has been accruing since 2016. 

According to Dr. Paul Busolo Wegesa, the Secretary General of the University Academic Staff Union (Uasu) Moi Chapter, the debt is inclusive of unremitted loans, pensions, union fees and other deductions. 

Moi University owes its academic staff Ksh.4.2 billion from unremitted pension, Ksh.1.2 billion from unremitted bank loans, Ksh.1.2 billion as salary arrears, Ksh. 85 million union fees, Ksh.85 million union fees and Ksh.100 million for their welfare societies. 

The university has also not paid Ksh.70 million in benevolent funds, Ksh.50 million in gratuity fees, and Ksh.90 million for their life insurance cover. Another Ksh.1.6 billion is owed to lecturers as their insurance premiums have not been paid. This amount is also inclusive of their pay for teaching Privately Sponsored Students and payment for assessing students on industrial attachment. 

The Ksh. 8.6 billion is also inclusive of salary arrears, as the dons are yet to be paid their October 2024, remuneration. 

Dr. Busolo told Citizen Digital that teaching staff in Moi University remain unmotivated, distressed and in financial difficulties as the institution is also yet to implement a salary increment agreed in the 2017-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). 

Trouble began in 2016 when the university began missing out on remittance of loan fees, pensions, union fees and other statutory deductions.  

“Previously they were paying on time, then from 2016 they began to skip. From 2018, it broke down completely. Sometimes salaries are paid after 3 months,” says Dr. Busolo. 

When these salaries are paid, the dons only receive their net pay and not the gross salary. This means that even though the delayed salary hits their banks, other remittances are not made to respective bodies. This money that does not get into the dons’ pockets nor their loan facilities and pension accounts is nowhere to be traced.  

The bank hammer and struggle for survival  

Crippled by debt, lecturers in Moi University struggle to have a roof over their heads, a meal on their plates, to pay fees for their children and even to venture into wealth generation projects. 

The situation has had psychological effects on the dons, who are not only demotivated but also struggling to fit into society. 

Once respectable professors, doctors and researchers are now turned away from banks, with auctioneers and court orders haunting them into depression. 

“A lot of people have been taken to court and live under fear of auctioneers who might descend on their property that they have worked on all their life. Staff are de-motivated, they do not have the strength to go to work because the employer is very punitive,” says Dr. Busolo 

“When you go to banks around Eldoret and they hear you are from Moi University, they will not give you a loan, even if you don’t have one already,” he adds, saying that a number of union members are blacklisted by the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) hence cannot get clearance to get loans or new jobs. 

For these reasons, elder staff have little or nothing to take home when their retirement time comes. 

Ben Owino, a criminology lecturer in the School of Arts and Social Sciences explains the effects the financial mess has had on him. “I have not paid rent for 2 months.”

Owino and his colleagues have suffered the brutal hammer of banks, which have fined them for defaulting on loans and late remittances. 

He paints a scenario of when they have to pay double the amount for their loans, as their salary accounts are empty when the loan repayment dates check in. 

“Moi University staff have been through a lot. I have a loan that is due on the 6th day of the month, the moment I fail to pay my loan on the 6th, the bank system identifies me as a defaulter and doubles the installment amount.”

“With the penalty from banks, when your net salary is paid, the loan deduction and penalty are withheld. So it means your account will be negative. We are working but there is nothing to take home,” says Owino. 

The financial challenges have left dons demotivated, even as they face sacking threats from the University management. 

“How would you go to class? What transport would you use to go to class?”

With little or no food to put on their tables, some dons have opted for strategies to uplift each other. During their meetings, they call on staff with farm produce such as beans, and maize to bring them so as to donate to those whose kitchen stores are empty. It is a better trade for dons as those with businesses exchange their products for food, and vice versa. 

A deaf ear from President Ruto 

The plea by lecturers has not only been unheard by the management, but has also fallen on the deaf ear of President William Ruto, and his deputy Kithure Kindiki.

“We went as far as getting the President’s phone number. Over 400 members of staff sent a message to him yet he has done nothing. What have we not done?” Owino poses. 

In a strategy Kenyans would now like to refer to as ‘kusalimia’, Owino says the dons have sent direct messages to Ruto, Kindiki, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei, Education PS Beatrice Inyangala and parliamentarians, with no response.  

According to the criminology lecturer, PS Inyangala turned a deaf ear to the dons on her recent visit to the University. 

The deaf ears is despite a number of officials in the country’s leadership being alumni of the institution. In the political circles is the newly minted Deputy President Prof. Kindiki Kithure. Moi University boasts of Adan Duale, Mwangi Kiunjuri, Adan Keynan, Joshua Kutuny, Hassan Omar among others.

Loss for students 

The dons hold that they have heard the plea of students, whose studies have been interrupted by the strike. 

Dr. Busolo and Owino note that the students have incurred extra costs of paying accommodation fees without attending classes. Due to inactivity in the school, some students have been involved in criminal activity or accidents, with a number of deaths being reported. 

“Some students may even drop out of school. What irresponsible government do we have? You don’t even bother that first years have not even started learning.”

Speaking to Citizen TV on Saturday, several students expressed their frustrations as they face delays in completing their courses due to perennial strikes.

"It has been very tiring, very draining in every way. We are physically drained, mentally drained," Noor Salyani, a student in the school of medicine shared. 

"Those who are currently in class are the people who, when we were joining the university, were in class four. When I go to the village, this bright student who topped the district—they think medicine has become difficult for me," stated another student, Francis Ochieng’. 

Controversies facing the management

Amid the strike, the school management has been accused of threatening dons with sacking letters. 

Before the threats began, the dons state that the Isaac Kosgey lead management began side-lining lecturers to counter discerning voices. 

Dr. Busolo says the management began appointing the deans of various faculties, a change from the norm where lecturers would elect their faculty and department heads. 

With no membership at the University Senate, UASU members accuse the management of deliberate tactics to make decisions that are unfavorable to dons. 

“UASU used to be in the decision-making body of the University to represent lecturers, but the current management changed the statute to remove workers from decision-making bodies,” says Dr. Busolo.

The change in leadership dates back to 2016, a year that brought the esteemed Prof. Laban Ayiro to the helm of Moi University as the acting Vice-Chancellor.

Ayiro had earlier revealed the poor state of the university which even had to seek financial help from the government to operate. Ayiro had to close down two campuses, one in Nakuru and another one in Eldoret city as part of the efforts to turn around the university’s fortunes. 

Then, he was quoted saying, “I would never have imagined seeing myself in situations where as chief executive, hospitals reject Moi University patients, newspapers cannot pick our advertisements, suppliers only supply when our cheques go through, statutory deductions are in arrears and this institution that is stuck with a bloated workforce.” 

How would one explain how a financially wobbling university would take out over one billion in loans to buy a moribund textile firm and hope to not only service the facility but also turn around the fortunes of the garment factory it bought? 

In September 2024, while appearing before the National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Education, The Moi University management came under fire after an audit report revealed a total amount of Ksh.29.8 million was spent to build the institution's gate which was not even completed as scheduled yet the initial budget had been only four million.

Tribalism accusations

Rampant tribalism, nepotism and other vices, attendant to poor governance have been rife at the institution, brought out openly during the incident eight years ago when a section of North Rift leaders stormed the University's main campus to protest against the appointment of Prof. Laban Ayiro as the institution's acting Vice-Chancellor. 

The leaders present in the protest were Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago his Elgeyo Marakwet counterpart Alex Tolgos, Silas Tiren (Moiben), MPs Oscar Sudi (Kapseret), James Bett (Kesses) and Isaac Terer Uasin Gishu County Assembly Speaker. The leaders swore to cripple activities at the institution and vowed to stop the institution as an "outsider" (Prof Ayiro) had been appointed acting VC of the university.

With these underlying realities, Moi University revokes memories of older graduates of the institution who have risen to the very top of their trade in the country.

In the Academic circles, it has Prof. Daniel Tarus, Prof. Alex Muumbo. Prof. Ruth Tubey, Prof. Ambrose Kiprop, Prof. Edwin Ataro, Prof. Billy Kariaga, Prof. Damiannah Kieti, Prof. John Simiyu, Prof. Joseph Rasowo, Prof. Joyce Agalo among others.

Would their conscience be pricked enough to seek a solution to the stalemate that is choking their Alma Mater?