The financial decline at the Technical University of Kenya (TUK) is currently under scrutiny, as both former and present administrators confronted challenging inquiries regarding how the institution accrued billions in debt.
The Parliamentary Committee on Education and Administration was astonished to discover that TUK personnel – including lecturers – have not received their complete salaries since 2013, the year when the institution was conferred full university status along with a charter.
TUK Deputy Vice Chancellor Benedict Mutua stated: “Since 2013, to speak frankly, no TUK employee has received a full salary. ”
The primary cause is over-employment. TUK has employed considerably more personnel than it requires – and the financial burden has rendered it unfeasible to fulfill salary commitments.
“Our greatest challenge is having an excessive number of staff. The government allocates Ksh. 63 million to us monthly, but we require Ksh. 270 million to meet salary requirements,” Mutua further remarked.
That is not the entirety of the issue. The university has been unable to remit employee deductions for several years. More than Ksh. 5 billion in pension funds is unaccounted for — and total debts have escalated beyond Ksh. 12 billion.
Former TUK Deputy Vice Chancellor Francis Oduor remarked: “I genuinely cannot recall the last time we remitted deductions… to be candid, we have not paid any since the university attained full chartered status. ”
The committee declared the university to be financially insolvent — and instructed government auditors to promptly investigate TUK’s financial management within a span of three months, as it engages in discussions with the Ministry of Education regarding the management of the TUK crisis that poses a significant threat to entirely halt all operations at the institution.
