Varsity spends Sh30,000 daily on water since 2008

MPs are investigating the decision by South Eastern Kenya University (Seku) to spend millions on buying water instead of drilling boreholes.

The lawmakers were yesterday shocked to learn that the varsity has been buying water since its inception in 2008.

Seku Vice Chancellor Prof Douglas Shitanda said the university has been buying three 10,000-litre tanks of water on a daily basis.

One tank costs Sh10,000, translating to Sh30,000 daily.

“In a day, we can consume three tanks. The boreholes we attempted to drill have never yielded any fruit,” Shitanda said.

The VC was appearing before the National Assembly Public Investment Committee on Governance and Education to respond to audit queries for the financial years 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21.

South Eastern Kenya University (Seku) is a fully fledged university in Kitui county.

It is the successor to the South Eastern University College (Seuco), which was a constituent college of the University of Nairobi.

The university currently has a population of 8,000 students.

In a month, the university spends Sh900,000 on water alone.

Shitanda said the institution resorts to buying or getting water from Masinga dam, which he said is expensive.

However, he did not disclose how much the institution spends on pumping water from the Masinga dam.

The committee, chaired by Bumula MP Jack Wamboka, questioned the logic behind spending millions to buy water when the university can drill a borehole in the institution.

Isiolo MP Bonaya Golo sought to know why the management resorted to the expensive route.

“It looks fishy. Why do you resort to buying water when we all know that it is less expensive to have your own boreholes?” asked Bonaya, who was chairing the session.

Central Imenti MP Moses Kirima demanded that the VC provides the cost Seku has incurred in buying water since its inception in 2008.

“We need to know how much the institution has spent on buying water. We also need to know who the supplier is,” he said.

Bonaya directed the Seku management to provide the committee with records indicating the money spent on buying water and details of the supplier.

The committee also resolved to invite Attorney General Justin Muturi to explain the inordinate delay in registering three parcels of land belonging to the university but not registered in its name due to ongoing court cases.

“Included in this balance are three parcels of land measuring about 6,000 hectares with a valuation of Sh1.03 billion, which are yet to be registered in the name of the university due to land disputes,” the audit report indicates.

“The university is also in possession of five other parcels of land with an undetermined value that have not been incorporated in the financial statements.”