KITHINJI: UoN crisis rooted in decades of meddling

In Summary

• Attempts to assert executive control date back to 1969 when East African countries resolved to dissolve the regional University of East Africa. Each country was to elevate constituent colleges to national universities.
• The suspicions of the government became even more clear in 1970 after the elevation of the institution to a national university.

The University of Nairobi, Kenya’s oldest institution of higher learning, is steeped in a crisis after the Education Cabinet secretary revoked the appointment of a new vice-chancellor. The university council has also been disbanded.

Far from being unusual, however, the crisis falls within an established pattern of government intervention in universities going back decades. Successive governments have sought to control universities with varying degrees of success.

Attempts to assert executive control date back to 1969 when East African countries resolved to dissolve the regional University of East Africa. Each country was to elevate constituent colleges to national universities.

The Kenyan government appointed a committee to develop a plan for a new university. The committee was made up of two academics, Prof Arthur Potter and Prof Bethwell Ogot, as well as civil servants. But it was dominated by civil servants. An unusual addition to the committee was a junior official in the Ministry of Education, who was also the sister of the powerful Attorney-General Charles Njonjo. Her involvement indicated that the government considered the establishment of a national university a sensitive matter that needed close monitoring by trusted insiders.

The committee convened against a tense backdrop. By the late 1960s the government of Jomo Kenyatta had started viewing the University College, Nairobi — the forerunner of the University of Nairobi — with disdain because of frequent student protests against the State. The government even banned members of faculty from using certain publications because it considered them subversive and likely to inculcate radical ideas among students. 

The suspicions of the government became even more clear in 1970 after the elevation of the institution to a national university. The government appointed Dr Josephat Karanja, a career civil servant, as its vice-chancellor. Until his appointment, he had served as Kenya’s high commissioner in the UK.

The irregular appointment became a trendsetter. When President Moi came into office, he filled the vice-chancellor positions with those he deemed loyal. The consequence of this executive interference in the appointment of university heads was twofold. The practice disregarded skills, credentials and competencies, which meant that the best-qualified people were not appointed. Second, it resulted in the erosion of academic freedom and university autonomy.

Mwai Kibaki, who succeeded Moi, set about reducing the level of executive interference at universities. The most important step he took was to discontinue the practice of having the President serve as the chancellor of all public universities.

But the legal framework that Kibaki inherited stayed in place until the University Act was passed in 2012. It introduced some fundamental reforms, giving the senate and alumni associations the powers of appointing the chancellor.

It also provided for the competitive appointment of vice-chancellors. Interviews were to be done by university councils, which would make a recommendation to the Cabinet secretary. The new law seemed to create a fair process of appointing the vice-chancellor. But there were still deep flaws.

In 2018, the 2012 law underwent major amendments following the enactment of the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2018. This stripped university councils of the right to conduct interviews. Instead, this was transferred to the public service commission.

The appointment of Nairobi University’s new chancellor was done under this new regime. But George Magoha revoked the appointment barely two weeks later. These actions have been challenged in court.

It’s now clear that the 2018 law was deeply flawed. It is time to bring sanity to universities by taking away the role of appointing university administrators from the State. 

Prof Michael Kithinji is the author of The State and the University Experience in East Africa. ©The Conversation