The future of university students is at risk after Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba confessed that 23 public universities in the country are insolvent.
While appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Education on Wednesday, March 19, Ogamba admitted that the financial crisis in Kenya’s public universities had worsened over the years.
According to Ogamba, the state of insolvency is due to chronic underfunding, particularly for government-sponsored students.
Ogamba's confession means that the financial obligations of the universities, such as debts, operational costs, and commitments, exceed their available resources, assets, and incoming revenue. Essentially, they may lack the funds to fully meet their liabilities.
The universities are operating under financial strain, hampering their ability to fully offer services to students as needed. This situation is forcing many universities to delay staff salaries, leading to strikes, which in turn trigger student protests.
As a result, students lose valuable class time due to prolonged strikes.
Ogamba appeared before the committee to answer questions on governance and financial challenges facing public universities, specifically the University of Nairobi (UoN) and the Technical University of Kenya (TUK).
The committee members raised concerns over mismanagement, pending bills, staff welfare, and leadership wrangles.
It questioned the huge debts in public universities, highlighting the University of Nairobi (UoN) and the Technical University of Kenya (TUK). UoN has pending bills of Ksh13.58 billion, including Ksh4 billion in historical arrears. On the other hand, TUK has a Ksh12.99 billion debt.
The committee also raised concerns over the long-standing financial mismanagement in public universities.
Considering that this is an alarming scenario, especially given the important role universities play in education and research, Ogamba assured the committee that the Ministry is working tirelessly to resolve it.
In its submissions to the committee, the Ministry outlined efforts to address governance issues, including a 2025-2026 Transformation Strategy aimed at streamlining university leadership, improving financial sustainability, and enhancing resource mobilization.
The concerns come at a time when TUK announced plans to lay off at least 559 employees because of financial challenges at the institution. The Nation also published an article alleging that Moi University has also fired over 300 staff due to its cash crunch.
