Irene Githinji @gitshee
The planned universities’ merger initiated by the Ministry of Education could take longer before being actualised, should unions make good their threat to seek legal redress to ensure the right procedure is followed.
Trade Unions Congress of Kenya (TUC-Ke) yesterday urged Education Cabinet secretary Prof George Magoha to urgently appoint, gazette and facilitate a special taskforce from all education stakeholders to collect and collate information and data towards achieving the desired results.
First-hand information
TUC-Ke board members, led by the Acting General Secretary Charles Mukhwaya demanded that Magoha immediately convenes a stakeholder consultative meeting with the union to discuss the way forward.
Consequently, he said a meeting with all key stakeholders in the university education sector should also be convened to allow for receiving first-hand information and insights as opposed to Magoha using the media to convey the critical message.
The union accused Magoha of making declarations on the emotive subject, which he said is bound to fail without the all-inclusive public participation.
Legal redress
“If our requests are not given due consideration, TUC-Ke will reserve the right to seek legal redress to protect the public interest in this matter,” said Mukhwaya, in a press briefing held in Nairobi.
Although the union did not give a timeline for its ultimatum to the CS, Mukwaya said their lawyers are already working on the case in a bid to ensure things are done in the right way.
And to further poke holes to the merger process, the union said universities’ charters cannot just be revoked by a merger and neither is there a policy guiding the process.
Their remarks come against the backdrop of Commission for University Education (CUE) working overdrive to submit a report by end of this month to Magoha, on the much needed reforms in universities.
