A university is an institution that has over decades been respected for the simple fact of being the powerhouse of knowledge. The rot and filth in administration and management that has since tainted this hard-earned image, however, should be dealt with thoroughly.
Prof George Magoha should know from the onset that most scholars just like himself are so much in support of the move to restore sanity in these institutions. The only black spot that may, in the end, curtail the process is the format of implementing these reforms.
The CS should reconsider giving the Vice Chancellors the mantle to spearhead these reforms in their individual universities. If you take a walk in individual institutions and investigate the character and the amount of impunity with which some of the university heads operate, you will be surprised. Giving them a chance, for instance, to identify and suggest some redundant posts and staff that should be done away with will be unfair especially to their opponents.
Staff will lose well-deserved jobs because of a rough relationship with their bosses and other courses will be scrapped according to VCs’ personal preferences. In as much as the ministry cannot entirely rely on empty talk as sacrificial evidence, no stone should be left unturned. I suggest that independent committees be constituted in all these institutions so that clear report audits can be prepared that will guide the reform process.
This way decisions will be uniform for the sake of delivering better quality education and passing down life morals too. The reforms are a great idea but if not done well, could change the institutions as we know them. Nobody should suffer victimisation from a well-intended process.
