• The university reopened its main campus two weeks ago after nearly two weeks of closure due to a staff strike but operations at the institution remain paralysed.
• Vice chancellor Kosgey two weeks ago held talks with the workers' union to reach a return-to-work deal but workers say the institution has not met any other demands.
Image: MATHEWS NDANYI
Trouble is again plaguing financially crippled Moi University where lecturers and other staff are boycotting work.
They demand their delayed CBA be implemented and insisted on remittance of statutory deductions.
The university reopened its main campus two weeks ago after nearly two weeks of closure due to a staff strike, but operations at the institution remain paralysed.
Vice chancellor Isaac Kosgey two weeks ago held talks with the workers' union to reach a return-to-work deal, but the workers say the institution has not met any other demands.
Deputy vice chancellor for Academic Affairs Nathan Kimengi had notified students to report back but no teaching is going on at the institution.
“At a special meeting on November 3, the Senate resolved teaching and learning activities should resume. Students are advised that lectures will commence on Monday, November 8,” a statement signed by Kimengi read.
The statement did not make it clear if the university management had reached a deal with the striking workers. Union officials have been holding meetings with the management, but there has been no breakthrough.
“We cannot work in a frustrating environment. We are unable to afford our basic needs and unless the university meets our demands we will not teach," one lecturer said.
The lecturers and other staff went on strike, demanding the implementation of a delayed CBA. They said the university has failed to remit more than Sh2 billion statutory deductions.
Lecturers said the institution was on its deathbed. They said almost all operations are paralysed due to financial problems caused by a bloated workforce and corruption. The university has debts amounting to more than Sh7 billion.
The EACC has opened investigations into claims of graft in the VC’s office and the existence of ghost workers.
Vice chancellor Kosgey has denied claims the university had been ignoring workers' problems.
He said the university had started reducing accumulated statutory deductions and obligations with financial institutions so workers can access the support they need.
Kosgey said the college had no backlog in payments of salaries except wages for some casual workers. He wants the workers to be patient as their grievances are addressed.
Two weeks ago, University Council chairman Humphrey Njuguna, who visited the institution, made it clear the university had no money to implement a new CBA unless the state intervenes.
“In the current position, we can't pay and we won’t pay,” the chairman said.
The chairman has been frequenting the institution to guide its revival. He said the university will send home more than half of its 5,000 workers in a staff rationalisation programme necessitated by deep financial problems.
The university is also considering increasing fees from the current Sh16,000 yearly because that amount is unable to sustain operations.
Njuguna said the crisis at the college was caused by a bloated workforce after the number of students declined from about 60,000 to less than 27,000. The drop followed the closure of the parallel degree programmes three years ago.
The chairman said the university had decided to take tough measures, including retrenchments, closure of satellite campuses and outsourcing some of its services to cut costs.
“We have to discuss with parents and other stakeholders including the Ministry of Education because there are facts we cannot avoid like the need to increase fees.
"This has to be achieved through public participation as required by law,” he said.
Njuguna said the collapse of the parallel degree programme, also known as the self-sponsored students programme, and the closure of some campuses caused the university to lose Sh5 billion in internal revenue, yet the number of staff remained constant.
“We, therefore, have to sack some of the employees and implement other measures to help us make some revenue,” he said.
The chairman said the council has a plan to save the university from collapse through income-generating activities to supplement dwindling state funding.
The university will use more than 1,000 acres of its land to produce apples on a commercial scale. The project is ongoing and is expected to generate more than Sh80 billion in four years.
“We have done due diligence and through research involving the school of agriculture, we are sure we will succeed and revamp the university fully,” Njuguna said.
(Edited by V. Graham)