Egerton University has announced a plan to lay off lecturers and scrap five degree
courses in a restructuring move aimed at enhancing the financial stability of the
institution.
The move comes amid accusations of unfair targeting of union leaders with disciplinary
proceedings and criticism of the management for hiring new staff while issuing
redundancy notices.
In a session with journalists, Vice Chancellor Prof Isaac Kibwage said the institution had
issued a notice to declare some of the positions redundant in order to cut the wage bill.
This includes scrapping some degree courses that have failed to attract enough students
to sustain them despite having hired lecturers for them.
“We have so far identified five degree programs which we intend to scrap. Lecturers in
those departments will have to exit and those qualified for other departments retained,”
he said.
The University Academic Staff Union (UASU) has criticized the move, pointing fingers
at the management over the looming redundancies and accusing them of hiring new
staff while issuing redundancy notices.
Kibwage defended the move, saying that some lecturers have exited like any other
institution and that new staff had to be hired where there were no replacements in the
current system.
The management has also been accused of unfairly targeting union leaders with
disciplinary proceedings for leading industrial action among the workers.
However, Kibwage argues that “there are rules that govern every institution. The fact
that you are a unionist does not allow you to break the rules. They are first employees of
the university before they become union leaders.”
Kibwage noted that the restructuring was likely to put an extra strain on the leadership
as they may need to devote attention to the institution make-over and maintain regular
operations at the same time.
He expressed confidence that the university will get back on track with time and that the
government has expressed its willingness to support the higher education sector which
is heavily in debt.
The Vice Chancellor also blamed the financial woes of the institution on a past deal
between the former leadership and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
He revealed that the university pays millions of shillings per month to the taxman to
service an accumulated Pay as You Earn (PAYE) debt and what becomes due. “After the
former VC was arrested in 2019 for not remitting PAYE, the management signed an
agreement with KRA on how the debt will be paid and this is straining us today,” said
Kibwage.
