TREASURY CS MBADI HINTS AT MAJOR STAFF LAYOFFS AND CLOSURE OF SATELLITE UNIVERSITIES

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has hinted at looming staff layoffs and the closure of satellite campuses as the government grapples with underfunding in public universities. While appearing before the National Assembly committee on education on Thursday, July 24, Mbadi also indicated that the government may resort to outsourcing services in underfunded institutions, as it can no longer fully meet the needs of government-sponsored students.
The CS further warned that the state can no longer sustain the full cost of educating government-sponsored students, signalling a shift towards cost-cutting measures and possible outsourcing of key services.
This means that parents will have to dig deeper into their pockets to support their children’s education.
“However, due to constrained fiscal space and other emerging priorities within the education sector, updating these rates might be untenable. The government will now, however, consider reviewing these rates should revenue performance improve.”
He explained that student enrolment numbers continue to rise, yet revenue performance has not increased at the same rate. As a result, the government is forced to operate within a tight fiscal framework.
On his part, Education CS Julius Ogamba said that this particular figure has not been attained in the ministry’s budget allocations for the last four or five years.
“And that is because the numbers of students have been going up, but the figure has remained static. Administratively, the ministry has taken steps to ensure timely disbursement of capitation,” he said.
This comes after several universities in 2020 either shut down or merged their satellite campuses to comply with a directive from the higher education regulator. The move followed intensified inspections by the Commission for University Education (CUE), which led to the closure of more campuses in a bid to safeguard the integrity of higher education.
Laikipia University closed six campuses across the country, while Kisii University shut down five of its ten campuses and merged others.