Egerton University has announced plans to lay off lecturers and scrap five-degree courses as it restructures towards financial stability.
Vice Chancellor Professor Isaac Kibwage said the move will also help to counter risks such as frequent strikes.
While addressing the media on Thursday, Kibwage said the institution had issued a notice to declare some of the positions redundant 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 that 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 management over the looming redundancies, citing that they were still hiring new staff. The management has also been accused of unfairly targeting union leaders with disciplinary proceedings for leading industrial action among the workers.
“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,” said Kibwage.
Kibwage blamed financial woes of the institution on a past deal between the former leadership and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). In a tell-it-all interview, Kibwage said 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.
According to Kibwage, the restructuring is aimed at making the institution more competitive in the future rather than regaining ground that has been lost in the past. He exuded confidence that the university will get back on track with time, saying that the government has expressed its willingness to support the higher education sector which is heavily in debt.
