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The Public Service Commission (PSC) will no longer take part in the appointment or removal of university chancellors after lawmakers approved a Bill that seeks to allow the University Senate to directly engage the president in the appointments.

The Education Committee chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Melly, in a report to the House, approved the Universities Amendment Bill 2024 that was sponsored by Kilifi MP Owen Baya. The lawmakers said the proposal to change the procedure of appointment and removal of the PSC would streamline the process of picking suitable candidates.

The move comes at a time when 26 public universities have been operating without chancellors, a situation attributed to the protracted process of appointment.

In the report, the committee further agreed with a proposal from the Ministry of Education, which recommended that six months before the expiry of the term of a serving chancellor at a public university, the chancellor notify the university senate of the upcoming vacancy. The senate will then, in consultation with key stakeholders, identify suitable persons for appointment.

The Universities Act states that every university should have a chancellor whose functions include being the titular head of the university, conferring degrees and granting diplomas, certificate and other awards in the name of the university. According to the University Act, 2012, chancellors are mandated to confer degrees and grant diplomas, certificates and other awards at a university.

According the House report, the Bill provides for definitive timelines and structured process that allows for smooth transition in university leadership. It chronicles how public universities have found it difficult to attract suitable candidates for the position of chancellor due to the protracted recruitment process in place.

“The proposed six-month timeline by the Ministry of education provides for adequate time for the appointment of chancellors of universities,” the committee report adds.

Lengthy procedures

The committee further argues that the proposal to change the procedure of appointment and removal of the PSC would streamline the process since chancellors do not undertake day-to-day activities to necessitate inclusion of the PSC in the recruitment.

The decision of the committee came after Baya pointed out that the amendment is in line with the recommendations of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms, which called for the removal of PSC in the process of appointing university chancellors.

“The principle object of the Bill is to amend the Universities Act Cap 210 to provide for the President to appoint chancellors of the public universities devoid of the current lengthy procedures,” the MP explained.

Currently, a university senate is usually required to consult with key stakeholders and identify suitable appointees to a vacant chancellor’s post, who then come up with five names that are proposed to the senate. The senate then submits these five names to the PSC for shortlisting and identification of three suitable candidates.

The PSC is then required to forward the names of the top three candidates to the Cabinet Secretary for onward transmission to the President. Upon receiving the list of three candidates, the President picks one person and publishes the name of the chancellor in the Kenya Gazette.

The decision of the Education Committee comes after the PSC advertised for positions of Vice-Chancellors and Deputy Vice-Chancellors for 10 universities after it emerged that 29 universities have been operating without a Vice-chancellor.

The nine universities that sought for Vice-Chancellors are Pwani, Kisii, Karatina, University of Eldoret, Machakos, South Eastern Kenya University (SEKU), Technical University of Kenya (TUK), Kabianga and Alupe.

The universities that wanted DVCs included Pwani (with two vacancies, Academic and Student Affairs and Research and Extension), Kisii, Karatina (two vacancies), University of Eldoret and Machakos.

“The principal object of this Bill is to amend the Act in order to allow the President to appoint chancellors of public universities devoid of the current procedures set in the Act,” the draft legislation provides.

A large number of public universities are in crisis, staring at accumulated debts that stood at more than Sh56.1 billion as of June 2022 and a lecturers’ strike than has crippled learning for almost a month now.