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The Chairman and members of the Council of KUCT

The Vice-Chancellor, JKUAT

Deputy Vice-Chancellors from JKUAT

Management and members of staff of KUCT

Students

Ladies and Gentlemen

I wish to record my gratitude to HE the President for appointing me as Chancellor of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and I am very pleased to come to Kimathi University College of Technology which is a constituent college of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in order to familiarize myself with your operations. I started visiting the constituent colleges of JKUAT at the beginning of this month. On 5^th March I visited Mombasa Polytechnic University College and a week later I visited Mery University College of Science and Technology. On Monday this week I toured the Multimedia University College of Kenya at Mbagathi in Nairobi. These tours have enriched my knowledge about the type of constituent colleges we have under the mentorship of JKUAT.

 

I wish to start by acknowledging the contribution by my predecessor, Prof. Ali Mazrui, during his six years tenure as Chancellor of JKUAT. He has been a scholar of international repute, and some may recall his commentary following the coup in Uganda in 1971 when he was confronted by the press; he stated that it was “a tragedy of style”.

 

In our case, those of us who were holding university management positions, during the 1982 coup attempt in Kenya, will recall that there were those Kenyans who were so concerned about the role of University in that unfortunate event in our country’s political history, that they would have preferred that those who wished to pursue university education did so overseas. They argued that the presence of university, particularly in the City of Nairobi, was a major security factor. In the early 1990’s there are those who will recall that we had some, within the country and outside, who were arguing that we were expanding public universities unrealistically given our resource base.

 

You will no doubt agree that we have come a long way since those days which were characterized by the fear of the unknown. To-day Kenyans are yearning for university education with demand highly outstripping the available university places both in the public and the private universities. Those of us who fought fearlessly to defend the expansion of university education in the country can take pride in the developments that we have witnessed in the 21^st century and especially in the last five years when public and private universities have increased tremendously. The Kimathi University College of Technology is one of those that have come into the scene during that period. I have enjoyed the tour of the facilities which you have and I am convinced that you have potential to climb to greater heights in academia.

 

My coming here has given me nostalgic feelings particularly when I recall a fundraising meeting which was held at then Kenya Polytechnic in 1971 to get Kimathi Institute of Technology started. I contributed Kshs.100/= during that function. You may also wish to know that I was a member of the Board of Governors of KIT during the early 1980’s. Again, I took part in a working committee which was tasked to come up with modalities of converting Kimathi Institute of Technology into a university.

 

You can therefore understand why I derive a lot of pleasure and inspiration when I see that our dream has finally come to reality. Additionally, the name of this University College is derived from that heroic and fearless freedom fighter, Dedan Kimathi, who sacrificed his life by going to fight in the forest so that we can enjoy political freedom. Again, the name of JKUAT, which is tasked to mentor KUCT among others, is that of the founding father of our nation, Jomo Kenyatta, who was a selfless freedom fighter for which he was jailed and detained by the colonialists.

 

Those who shoulder the leadership and management of this University College should therefore take pride for being honoured with the responsibility of steering an institution with such a rich political and historical significance in our country, Kenya.

 

I now wish to focus on this University College and the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, whose Act is applicable, as we deal with issues to do with good corporate governance. As you would expect, having spent a decade at the helm of the University of Nairobi, I have met with many challenges and my defence for any action that I took lay in the provisions in the University Act, in the University statutes and in the University regulations.

 

In the way of example, there was a case when I was pressurized to allow a candidate to transfer to the Medical School when the Deans Committee had already arrived at a decision not to allow more transfers into the MBChB course. I summoned the Academic Registrar who explained to me that Deans Committee being a Committee of Senate of which I was Chairman as VC, I could consent to the request. Little did I know that a little later some officers would come trying to persuade me to take a similar action in respect of some candidates who wished to transfer to Medicine. I now acknowledge that I nearly burnt my fingers when I flatly refused to allow the request.

 

In another case, pressure was applied to the Permanent Secretary to appoint a principal of a campus college. I had to quickly advise the Permanent Secretary that we needed to hold an appointment meeting as a council following which we would seek approval of the President and Chancellor for the appointment to be made as per the Act and the statutes.

 

I am giving the above examples to underline that many of us tend to forget to familiarize ourselves with the provisions in the Act, the statutes, the Terms and Conditions of Service and university regulations and systems, and only come to appreciate the need to do so when there is a problem particularly when external auditors raise queries or when the university is taken to court.

 

If I may give my own experience as a member of teaching staff, when I was a Senior Lecturer; one morning the Chairman of our Department instructed me to go to the City mortuary to identify a student from the Department who had been knocked down by a motorist on his way to do an examination, an exercise which I found challenging, but I had to oblige. Later, the students demanded that the Professor of Religious Studies conducts a funeral service in a Catholic chapel while the deceased was a Seventh Day Adventist. When the students were advised to go to the SDA church, they told the Professor that they were prepared to take over the Catholic Chapel and conduct the funeral service for their departed comrade; upon which the good Professor agreed to conduct the funeral service in the Catholic Chapel.

 

When I was appointed chairman of the Department of civil Engineering I was forced to change gears from being critical of the university management to being a defender of university management. A large proportion of academic staff in the Department was expatriate and I found them sometimes difficult to manage because many of them were academically senior to me. I was forced by circumstances to comprehensively read the Act, the Statutes and the Terms and Conditions of Service in order to defend my actions.

 

On one occasion, there was a case involving some expatriate staff who were seconded to the Department to assist in a programme sponsored through bilateral funding by a development partner. The staff wanted to hold a meeting to consider results of an examination outside the university before senate approval. I called off the meeting following which the Vice-Chancellor was summoned by the stakeholders to explain why I had cancelled the meeting. I accompanied the Vice Chancellor and the Deputy Registrar (Academic Affairs) to the meeting and I was very relieved when the Vice Chancellor explained to the stakeholders that I had taken the right action in accordance with the University statutes and regulations.

 

At the Dean’s level, I faced problems regarding elections which had to be postponed for several months until the DVC (Academic Affairs) ruled that University Statutes cannot be changed or varied to allow those who did not meet the requirements to stand. We were accordingly directed to hold the elections in accordance with the University Statutes following which I was elected Dean of the Faculty of Engineering.

 

In another interesting experience, the Vice-Chancellor came one morning when I was the Principal of the College of Architecture and Engineering and ordered me to terminate, with immediate effect, the services of the College Bursar on allegations that he was corrupt. I accordingly instructed the College Registrar to draft a letter of termination soonest. The College Registrar had a hard time trying to convince me that the correct procedure required that the bursar be given an opportunity to defend himself before arriving at a verdict of dismissal. I thereafter went to explain to the Vice-Chancellor the need to heed the Registrar’s advice. The Bursar was eventually suspended pending grilling by a staff disciplinary committee.

 

When I was Vice-Chancellor, I recall one occasion when the students from the Medical School boycotted classes. The reason for boycotting classes was that another class had occupied the more deluxe lecture theatre leaving them to crown in a lecture room which was not conducive to learning. The Principal of the College of Health Sciences and the Dean of Medicine tried to persuade the students to abandon the boycott without success. When I went to the College the students made it clear to me that they were not prepared to resume classes; unless they were given a lecture room which was conducive to learning. We carried negotiations lasting the whole day looking at the various options, and luckily we arrived at a return to lecture formula. The position was that there was no other classroom or lecture theatre large enough to accommodate the students apart from the one they had rejected. I was forced to undertake to arrange for an urgent design and construction of a suitable lecture theatre in that College. On this understanding, the students returned to classes the following day and on my part, I quickly arranged with the Estates Manager to get a team of architects, engineers and quantity surveyors from our College of Architecture and Engineering to design a lecture theatre. We utilized funds we generated from the income generating activities in the University for the construction of the lecture theatre.

 

I have outlined the above examples again to make you appreciate the need to be familiar with the provisions in the Act, in the Statutes, in the university Terms and Conditions of service and other university and government regulations and procedures.

 

For example, if you look at the JKUAT Act of 1994 section 5, it is provided that the President may establish a constituent College of the University.

 

Section 11 (I) states that the President shall be the Chancellor of the University unless he sees it fit to appoint some other person thereto;

Section 11 (4)states that the Chancellor                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

a)     Shall be the head of the University and shall confer degrees;

b)     May give such advice to the council as he considers necessary for the development of the university;

 

Section 12 (1) states that there shall be a Vice-Chancellor of the University who shall be appointed by the President on the advise of the Council;

 

Section 13 (1) provides that the Council shall, in consultation with the Chancellor, appoint a Deputy Vice-Chancellor;

 

Section 14 (1) states that the Council shall, in consultation with the Chancellor, appoint a Principal for each College within the university;

 

Section 15 (1) stipulates that the Chairman of Council, the Vice-Chairman and the honorary Treasurer shall be appointed by the President;

 

Section 16 (2)(a) states that the Council shall have power to administer the property and the funds of the university in such a manner and for such purposes as shall promote the best interest of the University but the Council shall not charge or dispose of the immovable property of the University without the approval of the Chancellor. In the way of example, at one time when I was at the helm of the University of Nairobi, the Commissioner for lands informed me that a 12 acre beach plot, belonging to the University of Nairobi, had been grabbed and sold to a foreign hotel developer. I immediately went to brief the President (Chancellor) by explaining that the University Act did not allow anybody to dispose of the University land without his approval. I sought his assistance, which I got, and the plot reverted to the University.

 

Under section 20(3) the Act states that all members of the staff of the university shall be appointed by the Council while Section 20(6) stipulates that the academic and administrative staff of a constituent College shall be subject to the Order establishing the College.

 

Under section 29(1) of the Act it is stated that the Council can make regulations for the governance of the university. Accordingly, the University statutes and regulations derive their authority from the JKUAT Act.  In particular, the statutes articulate the functions of the key officers and organs of the university. The Statutes, for example, provide as follows:-

 

Under statute V (3), it is stipulated that the Vice-Chancellor shall be the academic and administrative head of the University.

 

Statute VI (3) states that the DVC (Academic Affairs) shall be the head of the Academic Division of the University, with the following responsibilities:- teaching, syllabuses, timetables, examinations, graduation, training of academic staff; student affairs, academic support services and academic staff appraisals.

 

Statute VII (3) states that DVC (Administration, Planning and Development) shall be the head of the Administration, Planning and Development Division of the university, with the following responsibilities:- staff recruitment, training of administrative staff, promotion and discipline, personnel administration, financial administration, health care services, registry administration, legal matters, transport and central services.

 

Statute VIII (3) states that the DVC (Research, Production and Extension) shall be the head of Research, Production and Extension Division with the following responsibilities:- co-ordination of research, production and extension, soliciting funds for research and production, co-ordination of income generating units, co-ordination of workshops and seminars.

Statutes XI (2) stipulates that the Registrars shall perform such duties as may be delegated or assigned to them by their respective DVCs.

You may be wondering why I have spent so much time going through the various clauses and sections in the Act and the statutes. The main reason is that I am a strong believer in good corporate governance, and I would like all of you to embrace the principles of good corporate governance in order to minimize the possibilities of conflicts that quite often arise when an officer decides to invade another officer’s zone of management but also to emphasize the need to reflect on these provisions as you deliver as required by the performance contracts which I am sure you have all signed.

 

The University has many organs of management starting with the University Council which is entrusted with the governance, control and administration of the University. Under the Council we have Senate which is the supreme organ on academic matters. Then we have the University Management Board which deals with the day to day management of the university. The Senate and University Management Board are both chaired by the Vice-Chancellor.

Lower down the ladder we have the College Management Board and the College Academic Board both chaired by the College Principal. We then have faculties, Schools and institutes headed by Deans or Directors who chair their respective boards. At the departmental level we have chairmen who are appointed by the Vice-Chancellor. These university organs reflect the need for good corporate governance where the Vice-Chancellor appoints Chairmen of Departments and Deans are elected by academic staff in the faculty/school. Faculty Boards receive recommendations from Departments while Faculties are accountable to Senate and Senate is eventually accountable to the Council.

 

The above organs ensure that both teaching and non-teaching staff of the university have forums through which they can air their views.

 

I have taken you through what one may consider the obvious because I have challenges which I would like you to address. There are three areas of interest which I have in mind at the moment.

 

The first one has to do with financial management. As a university specializing in technology, I would like you to put in place technological systems which will enable management to monitor and control the way funds are utilized. We are looking for those systems that reduce possibilities of abuse of power in the allocation and utilization of financial resources. I am aware that there are those who put hurdles on the way to frustrate efforts towards introduction of transparent and efficient management information systems which enable accounting officers to monitor how the funds are managed at various levels. I am saying this because a few years ago, in a Board which I was chairing, we engaged JKUAT as consultants to help us establish an Information Management System which was of great assistance to the management of that Board. What I am therefore saying is that we have the capacity to expedite the task of establishing an efficient and effective financial management system.

 

The second challenge has to do with income generation. This is an area where I received considerable criticism from my fellow academics when I introduced income generating systems at the University of Nairobi almost one and a half decades ago. One of the greatest accusations I faced was that, as a University, we were shifting our focus from intellectual and academic pursuit in favour of commercial indulgence. I explained to them that the alternative was to leave the University to die financially. We were very careful as we introduced the income generating activities and we made sure that such activities were structured to add value to the objectives of the university. We have now come a long way and we need to be more aggressive and versatile to ensure that the institution can generate income which will enable the University College achieve its objectives such as in the areas of developing teaching and research facilities and capacities, as well as in the area of student welfare.

 

Thirdly, I wish to address the area of science, technology and innovations. Those of us who belong to professions related to this area, we cannot but pity ourselves when we watch helplessly as the technological train zooms passing by our nation and yet we would wish to see ourselves get into the train so as to get into the new technological generation of the future. If we wait hoping that another train will stop at our station, we may be surprised to find out late in the day that there will be no other train coming and we shall therefore suffer the associated consequences.  We shall unfortunately be left out to suffer exploitation by those who will have acquired the necessary and relevant modern technology. JKUAT fortunately has enjoyed limelight in the area of technology and innovations in the past. We have witnessed for example the tissue banana which has helped the farming community; we have also witnessed the waling tractor and so on. For Kimathi University College of Technology, we have many areas where you can innovate technologically. I wish to challenge the academics we have here to venture out and identify areas where we can sell ourselves as the technological university of excellence but also as an institution which can add value to the development of this country. I recall how, a quarter of a century ago, the Chancellor of the University of Nairobi challenged the university dons of the time to develop a Kenya car “however ugly and however slow”. We burnt midnight oil and following three years of research we developed the three vehicles (two saloon cars and a pick-up) which we presented to the President in February 1990. We were lucky in that we were provided with the requisite financial resources and conducive working environment which enabled us to deliver as per the agreement. There are many areas where this University College can identify with, especially with respect to the national vision 2030.

 

I am assuming that you have developed your strategic plan in which you have articulated your vision, mission, strategic objectives and strategies of achieving those strategic objectives. I am sure you must be addressing the issue of achieving full-fledged university status in due course.

 

I am aware that what I am asking you to do is a tall order but I wish to assure you that such a pinnacle as a mountain peak can be reached by those who are skilled in scaling mountains. And I have faith that amongst you are those who have experience in surmounting even the most difficult mountains in the academia. You will no doubt claim that you need resources in terms of physical facilities, in terms of financial resources, in terms of human resources and a conducive working environment.

 

You can now appreciate why I talked about income generation. On your part you need to have capacity to develop sellable proposals to the various stakeholders and others who are in a position to assist. The area of PPP, that is public private partnership, comes to mind where, as a public institution, you can collaborate with private sector outfits so as to raise resources that will enable you achieve certain shared objectives, goals and targets. We have for example seen some universities partnering with banks in this respect, which should encourage us to see if we can have a start in this direction.

 

As I indicated at the beginning of this address, I came here to familiarize myself with the Kimathi University College of Technology operations and from what I have seen I am convinced that you have capacity to achieve the objectives which you have set for yourselves. Mine is to wish you success and to assure you of my support in your endeavors.

 

And to conclude, ladies and gentlemen, let me thank those who planned the visit which has been very enjoyable, successful and informative. I would like to particularly thank the Principal of the Kimathi University College of Technology, Prof. Ndirangu Kioni. I like encouraging the students particularly those who entertained us.

 

And finally let me thank the Vice-Chancellor JKUAT, Prof. Imbuga, the Chairman of the KUCT Council, Mr. Waibochi and the management team for a task well-done.

 

 

Thank you.

 

Prof. F. J. Gichaga, Chancellor JKUAT

March 2010