Education Cabinet Secretary nominee Ezekiel Machogu on Friday made a radical policy proposal that could spell doom for private universities that have been enjoying state funding.
The former national government administrator and Nyaribari Masaba MP delivered a warning shot to influential elements based at the ministry he said are ‘cartels’ micromanaging university placement of students in private institutions.
“At the helm of that ministry if there is something that I am not going to allow is the existence of cartels. In case there are cartels in that ministry it is time they started packing and going elsewhere,” Machogu said.
He went on,“With Machogu at the helm of that ministry I would like value for money, shilling by shilling, and we will do proper monitoring to ensure we don't lose any money at all.”
Machogu promised to act on the recommendations of the presidential task force reviewing the Competency Based curriculum, signaling far reaching reviews to bridge gaps.
He, however, maintained that the Kenya Kwanza administration will not go for anything that will be costly to millions of Kenyans.
“This administration in particular would not like anything that is going to be costly to parents because education is supposed to be free and compulsory,” he said.
Appearing before the Committee on Appointments of the National Assembly, Machogu also hinted at another policy shift that will hand the President the powers to appoint vice chancellors of the public universities.
Machogu said the current system that vests the powers of appointing vice chancellors in the Public Service Commission was ill-advised as it denied the President input.
Parliament had amended the Universities Act and transferred the power to appoint VCs to the PSC in what was seen as a plan to ensure competitive recruitment over other considerations.
Machogu restated public universities will not die under his watch as millions of taxpayers’ money is channeled to private universities.
He told the National Assembly Committee on Appointments that one of his priority areas if confirmed is to get rid of the skewed placement by the Kenya University and Colleges Central Placement Service.
He was responding to a question from National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah, who sought to know what action the nominee would take to address irregular placement to private universities.
According to the Kikuyu MP, a local private university recently received more students from KUCCPS than Kenyatta University and University of Nairobi combined.
Kenyatta University and UoN are the two biggest public universities in the country and are ordinarily expected to get the highest number of placements.
“There exists a cartel in the Ministry of Education and private universities that influences how KUCCPS places students to universities. Public universities are collapsing when government is using million in private universities,” Ichung’wah said.
“One private university has more students placed to them than Kenyatta University and University of Nairobi combined,” he said.
The ex-Nyaribari Masaba MP vowed to rein in school heads charging illegal levies over and above what the government recommends.
Teso South MP Mary Emase had sought the nominee’s take on the illegal levies that are charged at primary school despite the clear government guidelines on free education.
“There is a primary school in Busia county that is charging primary students over Sh32,000. We are wondering, how exactly you are going to ensure that there is compliance?” she said.
Machogu told the Wetang’ula led team that he would reverse the controversial delocalisation of teachers, saying it was a punitive process and counterproductive.
Instead, the Education nominee said it will be replaced with a system called nationlisation and in cases where the respective teachers want to remain they will be given incentives.
“This administration has done away with it (delocalisation). In case that teacher wants to remain (in stations they were moved to) then we will provide incentives,” he said.
Another policy shift the nominee proposed to implement is the fast replacement of lost academic certificates .
According to the former Nyaribari Masaba lawmaker, replacing a lost KCSE certificate should not be a tiresome process as is the case currently but should take a maximum one week for one to be issued with new copy.
“If we can replace a lost title deed within one week, I don’t see why Kenya National Examination Council cannot replace a certificate in one day” he posed.
Machogu, who will replace Prof. George Magoha if he is approved by Parliament, told the vetting panel that he is worth Sh590 million.
The net worth, he said, is in the form of apartments, land and vehicles, distributed across the country.
"I own a plot in Kisii, it is not built yet and 30 acres of land in Kisii. I own vehicles, a Mercedes Benz and a V8," he said.