Written By John Mutiso 📝
Egerton University has resumed learning amid fear over a Ksh, 6 billion debt.
According to Egerton University Vice Chancellor Prof Isaac Kibwage, the university needs in excess of Sh6 billion bail out to be debt-free.
The vice chancellor also added that underfunding has resulted in a monthly Sh 77 million deficit for payroll alone.
“As of September 2021, Egerton University had debts running to Sh6.1 billion. This is what is making it hard for us to smoothly run our operations,” said Prof Kibwage.
Following a meeting on Friday last week, the University Senate announced the institution’s immediate reopening.
Prof Kibwage said that Senate resolved to reopen the University saying that this was the only way for it to make strides towards financial recovery.
The University had been closed on November 26 last year due to a lecturer’s strike and is still going on.
On Monday, learners continued to return to the facility in the hope that learning would resume, even as lecturers insisted they return to class without their full pay.
The lecturers are demanding the full implementation of a 2017-2021 collective bargaining agreement and the payment of their wage arrears incurred due to a 40 per cent pay cut during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, Kibwage stated that a number of lectures have expressed a willingness to return to lecture halls as the agricultural university seeks solution.
He explained that the institution has written to the Ministry of Education to offer short and long-term solutions to the university.
