All public university staff will now be on contract terms beginning January 2018 – Dr Matiang’i.
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The decision to stop hiring of university workers on permanent and pensionable terms, Dr Matiang’i has said, is aimed at cutting off the growing mentality that such jobs should be given out by governors to mop up support for the political endeavors.
Speaking at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies, where a forum on the review of the growth and development of public universities is underway, Dr Matiang’i said that satellite campuses have since been turned into employment trap for votes hunting.
He added that the situation has forced the university heads to employ people of their own choice, irrespective of their ability to perform in the respective positions.
Earlier, Mr Waititu quipped that the positions of Vice Chancellors in public universities in Kiambu should be awarded to locals, after a county assembly vetting, in a move which was set to ruffle feathers with state controlled Kenyatta University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
“KU and JKUAT, for example, are not employing our people. If you go there, the staff are not our people,” Mr Waititu said.
He added: “We want to make sure that the head of such institutions is recruited through our assembly. We want to ensure that the person who is selected is from Kiambu.”
Mr Waititu had hinted at making major changes to the running of the two institutions, which are currently run by non-locals, crying foul of the loss of jobs at the institutions.
Moi University
This is not the first time a governor has pushed for the changes in the management of public universities. Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago locked horns with the management of the Eldoret-based Moi University over the appointment of Prof Laban Ayiro to lead the institution, after then expiry of Prof Richard Mibey’s term.
The move by Mr Mandago created disquiet in the government and the students, who condemned the decision by Mr Mandago to influence the management of the institution.
Prof Ayiro was appointed by Education CS Fred Matiang'i as acting VC of Moi University on Monday, September 19.
After Mr Mandago stormed the institution demanding for a raft of changes at the National Government led institution, over 100 Members of the Uasin Gishu County Assembly backed the governor’s bid, in the broader view of mopping up more revenue for the county .
Uasin Gishu's Jackson Mandago and Alex Tolgos of Elgeyo Marakwet counterpart led MPs in the protests saying they wanted Professor Isaac Kosgey given the position instead of Prof Ayiro, who hails from Luhya land.