The Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) has lauded the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Education Julius Ogamba for revoking the appointment of Prof Amukowa Anangwe as the chairperson of University of Nairobi Council but now demands the other members to follow him.
According to Uasu officials, dissolution of the council is a step to solve the myriad challenges the institution faces. The UoN chapter of the union last Wednesday issued a seven-day ultimatum to the CS to dissolve the council and appoint a new team.
Uasu National Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga on Monday said the union would not relent in its decision to call a strike once the seven-day ultimatum lapses.
Dr Wasonga urged the CS to revoke the appointment of the entire council to pave the way for change and resolution, stating that the matter remained their main concern.
“We are not going to take the happenings at the University of Nairobi lightly. Degazetting only the chair is not enough. We want the whole council to go,” Dr Wasonga said.
Uasu UoN chapter Chair Dr Richard Bosire said the business of bringing sanity to the troubled institution is far from over.
“We expect him to move swiftly and remove the entire council and also engage quickly to appoint a new council with a new chair, people who have public interest in their hearts, not people who are coming to swindle the university resources,” Dr Bosire said.
On Thursday last week, the Committee on Education of the National Assembly also called for the dissolution of the council.
It asked the CS to equally move with speed to probe the management of the institution. Mr Ogamba on Friday gazetted removal of the council chair Prof Amukowa Anangwe.
“We want the Committee to move swiftly and help the university to gain its foothold once again especially to do a proper audit on human resources, financial resources and other asserts of the university and ensure that they are safe.”
The academic staff said that the misuse of the university's resources has been going on for a long time and that failure to fully address the issue at the moment risks damaging the institution's excellent reputation.
“They should do a clear investigation and come clean on what human resource instruments are being implemented at the University of Nairobi, what human resource instruments have they approved in the recent two years for the management of the university,” Dr Bosire said.
He alleged that there are a number of fraud incidences going on in the institution without public participation and the involvement of the academic staff.
"We call upon the public service commission to take its position and be able to help us to rescue our university which is being strangled.”
The union asked the chancellor of the university Prof Patrick Verkooijen to withdraw the transformation agenda for the institution since it was not taken through public participation.
One of the areas of the argument in the said agenda is the proposal to have two directors in the council, including one from the management and the other one from the legal department.
Dr Bosire said that the proposal is against the University Act, 2012, which state the composition of the council.
