- The CS spoke when he appeared before the Public Investments Committee on Education and Governance.
- Pressure has mounted on the government to stop funding students in private universities.
Image: WINNIE WANJIKU
The national admissions agency will no longer place government-sponsored students in private universities.
Education CS Ezekiel Machogu on Thursday affirmed that public universities have the capacity to host all 173,365 students.
“This year all our students will go to public universities unless as a parent you want to take your child to a private institution,” Machogu said.
The CS spoke when he appeared before the Public Investments Committee on Education and Governance.
Pressure has mounted on the government to stop funding students in private universities.
“No government grants will be given to private universities. We have said and it’s now a policy that grants will only be given to public universities,” the CS said.
Committee chairman Wanami Wamboka had asked the CS to declare his stand on the policy, as the committee began a process to reverse it.
“We are in the process of coming up with a Bill to tighten up loose ends to ensure that this policy is reversed,” Wamboka said.
The Bumula MP explained that the funds disbursed to private universities could be used to improve the situation in public universities.
“In the last five years, government has spent Sh13.7 billion and Sh6.7 billion as conditional grants to private universities. This money will now be injected to public universities,” he said.
The committee also revealed plans to audit funds sent to private universities as conditional grants since 2016.
The policy was first implemented in the financial year 2016-2017 to deal with congestion in public universities.
“We ordered a special audit by the auditor general of private universities on the money the government gave them,” he said.
In the financial year 2018-2019 the government disbursed Sh1.9 billion, Sh2.5 billion in 2019, Sh 2.7 billion in 2020, Sh 3.3 billion, and Sh3.1 billion in 2022.
This brings the total funds sent to private universities to Sh13.7 billion, which is set to be audited.
Last week KUCCPS CEO Agnes Wahome announced that the agency would place all students in public universities.
Wahome told MPs the public institutions have an available capacity of 194,000.
"We commit that if you give directive we will implement but we ask for protection from Parliament," Wahome said.
The 2023-24 Budget Policy Statement, which spells out priority expenditures for the government, shows that the state has terminated exchequer funding for private universities from the next financial year.
The move, if approved by Parliament, will spell doom for private universities that have been relying on state capitation to stay afloat amid financial turmoil in institutions of higher learning.