Inside plan by state to reduce public universities debts

The Ministry of Education is engaging public universities’ management to narrow down their expenditure, in a quest to reduce their indebtedness.

In a report tabled by the departmental committee on Education and Research, the ministry recommended restructuring and resizing universities.

This includes stopping duplicated courses and rationalising the number of administrative posts and units.

“Deploying post-graduate students to perform some of the functions supported by administrative staff, except functions such as the management of examinations and other sensitive records,” the report reads.

The report also recommends the prioritisation of research that will enable institutions to attract both local and international funding.

On matters of fees review, the ministry fronted public participation of all stakeholders while keeping in mind tough economic times in the country.

University management has also been asked to introduce new income-generating opportunities that are locally available within the institution.

“These may include charging fees for use of university facilities and utilising the idle assets such as land for income generation purposes,” the report reads.

Multimedia University Deputy Vice-Chancellor Paul Mbatia said most universities’ expenditure largely overhauls what Treasury allocates.

In an interview with the Star, Mbatia said the capitation is mostly enough to pay employees’ salaries and not cover statutory deductions and remittances.

“The proportion that will be given by Treasury and the amount we are left to generate internally is not reachable for various reasons,” he said.

He further said the lowering of university entry points reduced institutions' income which was pegged on school fees.

“Students who scored C+ (plus) and above are catered for by the government. This has reduced the amount of money universities get. Other Form 4s also join TVET and have depressed the number of students joining the university in parallel programmes,” he said.

The report further highlights the cause of problems that increases public universities' debts including redundant administrative positions and over-reliance on government capitation.

Others are a mismatch of the academic: support staff ratio, the establishment of redundant and loss-making satellite campuses, and programmes.

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu declared more than 11 public universities insolvent and unable to meet their short-term obligations in the financial year 2018-2019.

The University of Nairobi (UoN) had the biggest wage bill spending about Sh8.7 billion on personal emoluments, followed by Kenyatta University (Sh5.6 billion) and Moi University at Sh4.69 billion, according to recent audit reports.

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology did not pay for auditing services since 2014 and owed the AGs office almost Sh17.4 million as of June 30, 2019.

The report also indicates that the institution could not give a satisfactory explanation on why they paid some members of staff who had already exited the university almost Sh3.8 million.

 

-Edited by SKanyara