Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Committee on Education and Administration have declared the Technical University of Kenya insolvent following a Ksh12 billion debt that has plagued the institution since 2013.
On Wednesday, April 16, administrators at the institution faced the committee, upon which a deteriorating cash crunch was noted.
Both former and current administrators were put to the task to explain claims that some of the university staff had not received their full salaries since the university was chartered in 2013.
“Since 2013, to tell the truth, no TUK employee has received a full salary," TUK Deputy Vice Chancellor Benedict Mutua revealed.
According to him, this was mainly due to over-employment in the institution, which has seen more lecturers hired than needed.
This discrepancy has meant that the capitation issued to the university monthly to pay the salaries is often not enough.
"Our biggest challenge is having too many staff. The government gives us Ksh63 million monthly, but we need Ksh270 million to cover salaries," Mutua added.
Apart from the salaries, remittance of deductions made to their payslips has also not been made fully, with more than Ksh5 billion in pension funds not accounted for.
"I honestly can’t remember the last time we remitted deductions… to be honest, we haven’t paid any since the university became a fully chartered institution," former TUK Deputy Vice Chancellor Francis Owuor told the committee.
The MPs ultimately declared the institution financially insolvent due to its ballooning debt.
They have since directed the government auditors to investigate the financial management within the next three months to chart a way forward.
In the interim, the committee will engage with the Ministry of Education on how to handle the crisis before operations at the university completely stall.
