• The seat falls vacant in January 2020 when the contract of Vice Chancellor Peter Mbithi expires.
• The seat is reserved for a full professor
Image: /FILE
The search for University of Nairobi's vice chancellor is underway.
The successful candidate is set to take home more than half a million in salary and allowances.
A document seen by the Star reveals the university boss will receive between Sh420,567 and 744,078 as basic salary - the same category as cabinet secretaries, DPP and IG among others .
The successful candidate will get Sh120,000 for housing allowance and a medical cover whose details are yet to be revealed.
The details are contained in a notice by the Public Service Commission inviting those wishing to apply for the post.
"For an appointment to this position, a candidate must be a full professor," the notice reads.
The candidates will also need to be holders of a doctorate degree and have at least 15 years of academic, research and managerial experience.
The seat will be left vacant in January 2020 when VC Peter Mbithi's contract expires.
The next three months will be critical and will make or break the institution's attempt to calm the leadership turmoil that has engulfed it in the last five years.
To date, UoN remains the top and biggest university in the country, but in the last decade it has sunk into a pool of debt and financial struggle.
The university's book of records indicates it is yet to submit Sh1.4 billion of its staff revenues, pension deductions, and others.
The predicaments that are blamed on a wide range of issues prominent among them mismanagement.
The VC’s term comes to an end in January 2020, marking five years since he took over its leadership.
The university is under the leadership of Isaac Mbeche after Mbithi went on leave in July this year to give way for a replacement.
In June – his last days in office — Mbithi said the financial problems facing UoN were not exclusive but a calamity facing all public institutions.
Mbithi, has dismissed claims the institution is in financial turmoil, to the point of being unable to pay salaries.
He, however, admitted the institution has been facing a steady decline in budgetary support and delays in the release of funds from the exchequer.