Higher education body officials sent on forced leave

By Sophia Muthoni

Kenya: Two senior officials with the Commission for University Education (CUE) have been sent home for allegedly fraudulently extending their contracts.

Deputy Commission Secretaries Joel Mberia and Prof Florence Lenga are supposed to go on leave pending the advertisement of their positions.

They have also been accused of contravening competitive recruitment and violation of retirement age provisions.

At the same time, CUE has been directed to discipline Mberia and the head of Human Resources Elizabeth Wafula for nepotism and flouting Government policy on retirement.

They were accused of deliberately failing to inform the commission about a circular outlining the mandatory retirement age for civil servants.  The two are also supposed to be surcharged all the salaries paid to about ten staff members who had surpassed their retirement age.

Also to be recovered are monies paid to staff who had been holding some positions in acting capacity for more than six months.

Former commissioners among them Prof Ezra Maritim, Freida Brown, Prof George Magoha, Jane Ngige and Zachary Mwaura have also been censored for allowing CUE to change the recruitment and age regulations.

Flouted Act

 The commission secretariat has been prohibited from development of subsidiary legislation until new commissioners are recruited.

The recruitment of deputy commission secretaries, according to EMU, ought to be carried out by an independent consultancy firm.

EMU made the recommendations after staff at the commission raised complained to the Education Cabinet Secretary that senior posts had been dished out to officers who were over 60 years and to others without competitive recruitment.

Trouble at CUE started after the enactment of the Universities Act, 2012, that constituted a new commission and created four new posts of deputy commission secretaries.

Instead of advertising all the four positions, the Commission Secretary, Prof David Some ,wrote to Prof Lenga asking her to choose the position she would like to serve.

“Please let me have your decision on the division you would like to head in writing not later than May 1, 2013 and not June 1, 2013, as earlier communicated.”

And in a letter dated April 29, 2013, Prof Lenga responded:

“I have studied the contents of the two letters and assessed myself in respect of the envisaged workload and challenges ahead. However, given the opportunity to choose, I hereby select to serve as the deputy commission secretary in the division for Quality Audit and Standards.”

According to EMU, this arrangement was in total contravention of the Constitution and the Universities Act, 2012, which provide for the board or commissioners to appoint deputy commission secretaries.