Masinde Muliro don loses case on 'professor' title wrangle

Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology. [Courtesy]

Efforts by a university lecturer to claim the title of “professor” based on an error on his letter of appointment has been thwarted by the court.

Justice Stephen Radido ruled that since Charles Chunge did not have the qualifications for the position of professor in 2015, the court was unable to buy his argument that the reference to him being a professor in the offer letter was sufficient to bestow upon him the position of Executive Dean, School of Medicine.

“It was incumbent upon the claimant to satisfy the university during his interview in 2015 that he possessed the qualifications to be appointed as professor. It appears he did not. When he later raised the issue, an ad hoc committee was formed, and it established that he did not qualify,” reads the judgment.

In the case that was dismissed by the court on March 10, Chunge had sued Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology for refusing to add the prefix “professor” to his name.

Chunge argued that the university shortchanged him after he was hired in 2015 as the Executive Dean, School of Medicine, with the promise of immediate appointment to professorship. “The Vice-Chancellor wrote me an offer letter on July 27, 2015, where I was addressed as Professor Charles Chunge… However, on March 10, 2017, the university’s registrar wrote to me saying I was interviewed for the Dean post and not a professor, and that therefore the inclusion of the title professor in the offer letter was in error,” he told the Labour Court in Kisumu.

Rope in trade union

The court heard that the registrar's letter further advised Chunge to make an application for the position of professor or associate professor in the School of Medicine if he so wished. “Chunge responded to the letter on March 15, 2017, stating that he had had the designation of professor long before joining Masinde Muliro University and that the offer letter was accurate in referring to him as professor,” read the court papers.

In a rejoinder on March 23, 2017, the registrar also requested proof of Chunge’s professorship. The exchanges were becoming explosive and Chunge decided to rope in his trade union, the University Academic Staff Union. The union compelled the university to constitute an ad hoc committee to review Chunge's academic position and status to establish if he met the qualification(s) for the position of professor.

The committee ruled that under the university's old hiring criteria, Chunge qualified to be Senior Lecturer and not Associate Professor. But Chunge went to court, arguing that the university was attempting to alter his contract of employment midway.