I was misquoted on university funding by state – Machogu

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has refuted claims that the government will stop funding universities.

Machogu had on Saturday put public universities on notice saying they should think of how to generate their revenue as the state will soon stop funding them.

The CS said the government will continue supporting universities.

He, however, urged them to continue researching avenues that would generate extra income.

He said that the media misquoted him a move that created unnecessary pressure from different quotas in the education sector.

The CS said the national government will continue impacting institutions of learning through partnerships with relevant bodies and donors.

“Last week, there was a fake media report purporting that the government will stop funding universities, I was misquoted,” he said.

He said that the government has already allocated a capitation of Sh50 billion for University Education and Sh15.8 billion to the Higher Education Loans Board.

The CS said the government is committed to supporting both the TVET and the University subsector through all means needed.

“Institutions will continue with their longstanding tradition of diversifying their income generation activities to ensure they do even better, ” he said.

He said he had held meetings with Uasu leadership to clarify the matter and with other key players in the education sector.

During a press briefing on Monday, the University Academic Staff Union termed the pronouncement reckless.

Uasu secretary general Constantine Wasonga said if government stops funding public universities, it will give them leeway to charge fees as they wish, a move that could disenfranchise economically disadvantaged students.

Wasonga also faulted Machogu for suggesting that public universities should be innovative to raise the much-needed revenues required to run the institutions.

“Why is it that only public universities are being asked to be innovative and not other government departments? By definition a public university means its public and its government-sponsored,” he said.

Universities Fund CEO Geoffrey Monari recently said the number of students qualifying for universities is increasing and it's becoming unsustainable for the government to add a financial allocation to support the institutions.

“The funding requirement for the 2022 cohort of 145,145 students is Sh32.7 million while available funds are Sh12.6 million. The incoming cohort is larger than the graduates exiting by 52,195 hence it’s expected that the funding requirements will increase,” Monari recently said.

In 2019, about 11 universities were caught in a Ksh.9.7 billion tax evasion racket that threatened their closure.

Egerton University and Moi University are some of the top institutions which are grappling with a management crisis after lecturers laid down their tools over pay cuts.