Eight degrees discontinued at Egerton as redundancies begin

The courses that have been scrapped include Bachelor of Industrial Technology, Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering, and Bachelor of Science (BSC) in Soil Environment and Land Use Management.

Bsc in Dairy Technology and Management, Bsc in Wildlife Enterprise and Management, Bsc in Integrated Forest Resources Management, Bsc in Dry Land Resources Management and Bsc in Applied Aquatic Science.

While the quorum for a class in a degree programme is set to at least 15 students, statistics obtained from the university indicated that the affected courses had less than 10 students per class, with some as few as three.

During the meeting, Kibwage laid before the staff facts that left the management with no other option than letting them go, among them, a financial hole in their payroll.

"For us to pay full salaries for everyone, we require an additional Sh99 million every month. Without this capitation, we must right-size our staff and departments," Kibwage said.

The university receives Sh185 million from the exchequer and raises an additional Sh26 million from tuition fees and other internal sources every month.

"Through natural attrition, our wage bill has dropped from Sh265 million to Sh248 million. Our operation costs are at Sh60 million. Our total monthly revenue of Sh211 million," Kibwage said.

He said 454 academic staff take the lion's share of the payroll at Sh135.5 million, 678 administrative staff get Sh93 million, management at Sh3.5 million and support staff at Sh16.5 million.

"We are heavily in debt. The biggest debt accumulator is the payroll across all public universities. We will continue to right-size our workforce not unless the government bails us out," he said.

The VC added that the over 1,400 employees would be personally involved in their own and each other's fate in the redundancy process in a move aimed at getting the institution back on its feet.

He explained that the management would involve their respective unions in developing a tool the staff shall use to evaluate who should be retained or released from the university.

"Using the tool, you will be retrenched by your colleagues and not me. It is them who will say whether you work or not. Afterwards, the management shall apply its wisdom," he said.

The VC further announced that there would be a reorganisation of departments adding that unproductive senior staff will be among those targeted where duplication of roles is witnessed.

"If you are a senior staff, we pay you well, and you don't or are unable to do your job, forcing us to hire more junior staff to do your job, we will have to let you go," said Kibwage. University Academic Staff Union Egerton Chapter Secretary Dr Grace Kibui said redundancies should be fair.