Is Moi University Dead-Broke? Silence Raises Alarm Days After Closure

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The indefinite closure on Moi University’s main campus in Eldoret on Thursday, October 28, has panicked staff members and the students.

Learners were ordered to go home after staff went on strike, citing held up salaries, delayed implementation of a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), and failure by the institution to remit statutory deductions amounting to more than Ksh2 billion. Vice-Chancellor Prof Isaac Kosgey, however, claimed that all salaries have been paid.

Apparently, the varsity is in a serious financial crisis and it will take a lot of effort to salvage it.

According to the university council chairman Humphrey Njuguna, debts have plagued the institution, and to balance the books, more than Ksh5 billion is needed.

He said before learning can resume, half of the workers will be sent packing.

Also, parents and students will feel the pinch, as the school plans to increase the fees.

“We have to discuss and parents and other stakeholders, including the Ministry of Education, because there are facts we cannot avoid like the need to increase fees,” Njuguna asserted.

Further, some satellite campuses have been targeted for permanent closure.

But how did this get here?

Njuguna insists that a bloated workforce and reduced numbers of numbers from 60,000 to 27,000 following the phasing out parallel degree programmes are to blame.

However, some people fault the Vice-Chancellor and political interference as some of the reasons the institution is going down the drain.

Critics say the rain started ‘beating’ when it emerged that Prof Laban Ayiro would become the substantial VC in 2019 after being in an acting capacity since 2016.

North Rift leaders stormed the university and demanded that the powerful position must be held by a local. Eventually, Ayiro, who had emerged the front-runner after a rigorous recruitment process, was chased.

However, a few months later he was appointed the Vice-Chancellor at Daystar University, a position he is still occupying to date.

Now students fear they could spend more time in school, as there is uncertainty about when the institution will open its doors again.

The Ministry of Health and other relevant bodies have remained silent since the shut down.

The post Is Moi University Dead-Broke? Silence Raises Alarm Days After Closure appeared first on LitKenya.

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