Kiambu college paying Sh158m loan it never took

A Kiambu college is repaying a Sh158 million loan that allegedly benefitted individuals after it was acquired by trustees in 2014.

The Board of Trustees (BoT) allegedly used assets belonging to the Kiambu Institute of Science and Technology as collateral. It is the custodian of the institute’s 192 acres and assets. The college says the repayment has derailed its development plans. This was revealed by a county assembly committee that submitted a report to the Senate Education team.

The senators, led by Christopher Langat of Bomet, toured KIST on Tuesday after nominated Senator Isaack Mwaura presented a petition over the alleged irregular appropriation of land belonging to the institute.

The BoT has been embroiled in feuds with the Board of Governors (BoG) over the management of the school.  The BoT members include Allan Ngugi, Kimani Mathu, Jean Muhoho, Patterson Kamaara, Joseph Thairu and Judy Kariuki.

The report read by county assembly Planning committee member Hezron Gachui and MCA Riabai said the BoT, being the custodian of the 192 acres on which the institution was built, signed loan documents and used KIST’s assets as collateral.

The institution has yet to know how the rest was spent. BoG chairman Josiah Kariu told the Senate panel that they are paying Sh10.9 million per term to Co-operative Bank. So far, they have repaid Sh3,382,474.

“The BoT took a loan, which was not utilised for purposes of the institution and now we pay the loan through money collected as school fees,” he said.

Senator Langat said accused the Board of Trustees of presiding over “a scandal of the worst kind”. The loan was taken and those responsible are not accountable to anyone or anything, as the money did not go to the institution, yet it was left to repay the money, he said.

“This monster called the BoT should be investigated by the EACC as it is not acceptable that a few individuals can take up a loan and are not accountable, yet the institution is left to service the loan,” he said.

Professor Sam Ongeri (Kisii) said it was unacceptable that the institution cannot do development because of the loan. “There is no way a public institution can have a private entity run it, yet the Technical and Vocational Education and Training act is clear that learning institutions should hold their own titles,” he said.

For his part, Senator Mwaura termed it a horror story where individuals take advantage of KIST assets to benefit themselves, despite its need for more space to build lecture halls, hostels and other amenities.

“The ministries of Lands and Education and EACC should step in and shed more light on what is happening at KIST. I will stop at nothing until the land is reverted to the institution,” he said.

KIST sits on 34 acres and the rest of the land has a coffee farm and a carpentry workshop. The BoG says it has been left to run the institution with no say on school assets.

The assets include 51 staff houses, which the BoG says the trustees have taken over and are renting. For nonstaff occupants, a three-bedroom house is rented at Sh32,368 monthly, while a two-bedroom house goes for Sh25,894.

Staff members had been renting a three-bedroom house for Sh9,075 but this was increased to Sh18,000.

Those in two-bedroom houses pay Sh6,323. The BoT, therefore, gets Sh832,352 in monthly income from the houses. The institution says it does not get a penny. The BoT expends Sh23,047,432 annually.

Because of the land issue, the institution has lost Sh2 billion funding from the German Development Cooperation, which wanted to invest in infrastructure to benefit 5,000 students after it was identified as a TVET centre of excellence.

 Kiambu, Nairobi and Thika technical training institutes were identified to have their technical capacity upgraded by the German government under the Kenya-German Technical Industrial Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training.

The institute was given up to September 1 to get a title deed under its name, but the BoT refused to facilitate it. The German cooperation withdrew.

The Senate committee heard that the Attorney General and CSs Fred Matiang’i (formerly in charge of Education) and Farida Karoney (Lands) had recommended that the 192 acres be reverted to the institution but the BoT did not comply.

The committee, therefore, called for a probe before they make any recommendations so it can be established who the BoT members are and why they have refused to return the land.

(Edited by F'Orieny)