A petitioner has moved to court seeking orders to bar Kenyatta University vice chancellor Paul Wainaina from proposing or participating in the recruitment of his successor.
Prof Wainaina’s tenure is due to end in January next years and the Public Service Commission has already advertised for the position.
In a suit filed at the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nairobi, Kenyatta University alumnus Lawrence Omondi accused Prof Wainaina of overstepping his authority by orchestrating the creation of “tailor-made” recruitment criteria designed to favour a specific candidate.
He says the vice chancellor has “deliberately engaged in acts that are against the Universities Act, the University Charter, and the university's statutes.”
In his affidavits, the petitioner says Wainaina established an “illegal committee” in June 2025 to develop the criteria for recruiting the next vice chancellor, a role legally reserved for the university council and the Public Service Commission.
This committee’s report was subsequently presented to a special meeting of the university senate on July 15.
Omondo claims the meeting was called with just one day's notice and without a disclosed agenda, yet it substantively adopted the proposed criteria.
He wants the court to quash both the report and the senate’s approval of the same.
The petitioner wants the matter certified as urgent and an urgent order issued, arguing a meeting of the university council, the body with the ultimate appointing authority, is scheduled for November 17 where the disputed criteria could be ratified.
Omondi argues that the criteria is irrational and unreasonable.
The new criteria include a requirement that any applicant must have 15 years’ experience in the senior level in leadership and administration and a stipulation that a candidate must have “served substantively… in the position of deputy vice chancellor or principal of a constituent college for at least a full term of five (5) years.”
Another novel condition is the need for “extensive senior management training, including a leadership course lasting not less than four (4) weeks cumulatively.”
Omondi says these stringent requirements, when compared to past Kenyatta University adverts for the position in 2017, 2015, and 2005, as well as to current adverts from other reputable universities, are unfairly restrictive.
Those sued are Prof Wainaina, Kenyatta University council, and the Public Service Commission.
“There is an apparent conflict of interest for the 1st Respondent to directly participate in the recruitment of his successor by setting up a criterion for qualification which is designed to edge out other applicants and favour a candidate of his choice,” Omondi says in his affidavits.
The petitioner also claims Wainaina’s involvement flouts a government circular of November 23, 2010, which outlines procedures for the reappointment of chief executive officers in state corporations.
The circular stipulates that a CEO wishing to be reappointed must write to the board at least six months before the term ends.
If the board does not recommend renewal, the CEO is to proceed on terminal leave to ensure a smooth transition for their successor. The applicant suggests that the Vice-Chancellor’s active role in managing the recruitment at the "tail end of his term contravenes" this guidance.
However, minutes from the special senate meeting reveal that the committee and the senate itself provided justifications for the enhanced criteria.
The committee, which benchmarked its work against several other public and private universities, stated that its aim was to “strengthen… criteria to reflect recent transformations in higher education globally.”
“The rationale for experience of at least five (5) years is that for anyone to be accorded position of a vice chancellor he or she needed to have deputized holders of that position for at least one full term to get a glimpse of what it entails.”
Justice Hellen Wasilwa is expected to give direction on Monday on the way forward.
