President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday ordered a freeze on establishing new universities. This will give allow for strengthening existing ones as well as providing more technical and vocational training.
He issued the directive after awarding charters to eight new universities at State House, Nairobi. A ninth, Garissa University, was initially planned to be among the institutions getting their charter, but Uhuru said he would personally travel to the Northeastern county to deliver the certification. Garissa University College was the site of an al Shabaab massacre last year in which 148 people died.
The President said his decision on Garissa University is meant to send a loud message that Kenya will never be cowed by terrorism. The eight are KAG East University in Kajiado county, the Cooperative University of Kenya in Nairobi, Rongo University in Migori and Taita Taveta University.
The others are Kirinyaga University, Machakos University, Murang’a University of Technology and University of Embu. The President also witnessed the installation of chancellors of the new universities.
The chancellors are Fred Ojiambo (Kirinyaga University), James Mworia (Machakos University), Joseph Nyaga (Cooperative University), Prof Mohamed Y Elmi (Rongo University), Prof Musili Wambua (Embu University), Rev Dr Peter Njiiri (KAG East University), Dr Philista Onyango and Dr Sally Kosgei (Taita Taveta University).
“Our focus now must be strengthening the institutions that we have; building their resilience and ensuring sustained quality,” Uhuru said. “These institutions have to be globally competitive in their operations and service delivery. Quantity at the expense of quality has a potential to harm our country.”
The President said the government will also focus on developing the necessary job skills needed for Kenya to meet the objectives of Vision 2030. “We are determined to deliver on vocational training, through our Technical and Vocational Training Institutions.”