The Technical University of Kenya (TUK) has been declared insolvent by Parliament amid a deepening financial crisis marked by a Ksh12 billion debt and persistent salary delays for staff.
The crisis has largely been blamed on a bloated workforce that exceeds the institution’s operational capacity, with payroll consuming Ksh270 million monthly. Additionally, TUK has failed to remit statutory deductions for several years.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Education on Wednesday, April 16, current and former administrators faced tough questions about how the institution accrued debts now exceeding Ksh12 billion.
The administrators admitted to severe financial mismanagement, revealing that staff, including lecturers, have not received their full salaries since 2013, the year TUK was granted full university status and awarded a charter.
The financial burden has been worsened by overemployment, with the university hiring more staff than it can sustain, ultimately making it impossible to meet its salary obligations.
“From 2013, the staff have never received their gross salaries. The money that is paid, the money that has been coming, was not enough to pay gross salaries,” said Deputy Vice Chancellor Benedict Mutua.
“One of our biggest problems is that our wage bill is too huge compared to the size of the students that we have. Our gross salary is expected to be Ksh272 million per month. What you get in form of government capitation is Ksh63.3 million.”
TUK declared insolvent
Also, the university has failed to remit employee deductions for years including pensions, for more than a decade.
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The lawmakers learnt that more than Ksh5 billion in pension funds cannot be accounted for.
“I can’t remember off head the last time we remitted deductions we have never paid in full,” admitted former Deputy VC Francis Oduor.
In response, the Parliamentary Committee declared TUK financially insolvent and directed government auditors to conduct a thorough investigation into its financial management within three months.
This comes as the committee holds consultations with the Ministry of Education on how to address the university’s crisis, which now threatens to bring all institutional operations to a standstill.
Last month, the Ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU) and the University Academic Staff Union (UASU), effectively ending a month-long strike that had paralyzed learning at TUK.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba, speaking on March 24, stated that the agreement paved the way for staff to resume their core duties and responsibilities, as broader discussions on the university’s future continue.
“I trust and believe that the Council and the Administration will work extra hard to ensure that the time that has been lost is recovered for the students,” stated CS Ogamba.
Resumption of studies
Consequently, TUK released its revised academic calendar for the 2024/2025 academic year, following a Senate meeting held on February 18.
Also Read: TUK Lecturers End Strike, University Announces New Academic Calendar
The Senate meeting agreed that students would be granted a two-week revision period before sitting for their semester I examinations.
For semester one, students were scheduled to begin their revision period on March 18, which run until March 29.
Semester one examinations then took place from March 31 to April 12.
On the other hand, the second semester was scheduled to begin on April 14- with lectures running until May 17 followed by Continuous Assessment Tests (CATS) from May 19 to May 24.
Lectures will further resume for the second part of the semester from May 26 to June 28.
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