The Education Ministry has dealt a major blow to perennial student leaders after introducing the 2016 Universities (Amendment) Act.
The law, which was recently signed by President Uhuru Kenyatta, stipulates that a university student leader will hold office for a one-year term and be eligible for re-election only once.
The new law also disqualifies a person who has served as a member of the student council of a university for two terms from being elected to the same position at any other university in Kenya.
The Act is one of the many radical reform measures that Education CS Fred Matiang'i has promised to implement in the university sector.
Some student leaders such as Paul Ongili, popularly referred to as Babu Owino, have dominated university students’ politics for years, making it impossible for alternative students to serve.
Going by the new law, Ongili will not be allowed to contest the Students Organisation of Nairobi University (SONU) chairmanship once his term ends in 2017.
“We are putting together our plan. There are investigations that will continue in January, and once we are done, we will begin a necessary clean up in our universities,” Matiang'i stated in a recent interview with a local television station.
He added, “some of the reforms we will undertake will be difficult and painful. But we have to carry them out any way to safeguard the integrity of our education system."
