A new report highlights the dire financial and administrative challenges facing several universities. Auditor General Nancy Gathungu’s report for the year ending June 2023 reveals troubling conditions across various institutions.
Many are struggling to meet key obligations, with issues including discrepancies in fee collection, failure to remit statutory deductions, and stalled projects. Additionally, the report indicates that some universities have a disproportionate number of staff from a single ethnic community.
Among the universities facing these difficulties are the University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, Moi University, Rongo University, Maseno University, Garissa University, Egerton University, Taita Taveta University, and Kabianga University.
For the University of Nairobi, the report casts serious doubt on its future viability, noting that its liabilities surpass its assets. It also highlights problems with fee collection, pointing out that 844 students with outstanding balances totaling Sh80.99 million were invoiced before settling their arrears.
This practice contravenes the university’s fee policy, which requires students to clear outstanding fees five weeks before a new semester or within 13 weeks for installment payments.
The report further identifies issues with the Student Management Information System (SMIS). For the financial year 2022/23, there were 2,888 gaps in the receipt number sequence and several gaps in the invoice IDs for Module I and II students.
Additionally, the university’s Income Generating Units (IGUs) have reported significant losses. For example, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences received only Sh214,856 against expenditures of Sh2.8 million.
The Faculty of Health Sciences had a deficit of Sh19.4 million, with receipts of Sh1.8 million compared to expenses of Sh37.2 million. The Faculty of Science and Technology faced a deficit of Sh4 million, receiving Sh6.9 million while spending Sh11 million. Meanwhile, the Faculty of Diagnostic Radiology’s expenses matched its receipts of Sh2.7 million.
