Maraga, parents criticise State move on varsity fee 

Former Chief Justice David Maraga and the parents’ association have accused the government of mismanaging the university funding model, thus ruining the future of thousands of students. 

Addressing journalists in Meru, Maraga questioned why the government rushed to increase university fees only to ‘purport’ to reduce them last week. 

Maraga, who has stated his interest in vying for the presidency in the 2027 elections and is mainly banking on Gen Z support, questioned the rationale for ditching the previous higher education financing system without a well-thought-out alternative. 

“Why did they change it in the first place? When you come up with a new model, the normal thing to do is to think it out clearly. You don’t just make haphazard decisions when people are already struggling,” said Maraga. 

Public pressure 

Maraga said the mess has left many young Kenyans at risk of losing years of study or dropping out altogether. 

He stated that it was only after public pressure that the government began to respond with promises to correct the situation, arguing that leadership should be proactive, not reactionary. 

“The government is not supposed to be prompted; it is supposed to know what to do.” 

Maraga also warned of the state’s disregard for constitutional freedoms, particularly interference with peaceful political gatherings. 

“Everybody has the right to assembly and expression. Unless those parties committed a crime which we’ve not been told, there’s no justification for disrupting them. They are angering the people and fuelling unnecessary tension,” he said. 

Maraga’s speech came a few days after the government announced a reduction in public university fees by between 15 per cent and 40 per cent. 

The government said the reduction aims at transforming Kenya’s higher education. 

Yesterday, parents accused government officials of playing politics with the funding of basic education, which risks leaving the sector in limbo. 

Last month, President William Ruto overruled an earlier pronouncement by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi that the government would lower capitation. 

The National Parent Association criticised President Ruto and Mbadi for playing politics with the education sector despite parents paying taxes. 

“That is politics, and we parents are not politicians. Should the government interfere with the funding of basic education, the much we can do is to write a petition to Parliament because we cannot side with either the president or the CS,” NPA Secretary General Eskimos Kobia said 

According to Kobia, remarks by Mbadi and Ruto indicate that the government is gauging how the public will react should education funding be abolished. 

“They are just testing the waters to see the reaction of parents. If the parents just sit back and don’t write a petition or comment about it, then they will go ahead and implement policies they wish,” he said. 

Kobia said that parents are opposed to recent views by Kenya Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet that parents partner with the government in funding education. 

Kobia said parents would not take orders from teachers to fund education and maintained that even if the Ministry of Education issued a circular to that effect, NPA would challenge it. 

“We will not allow that because they have not published a circular. But even if they do that, parents are going to object to it through the right channels,” Kobia said. 

He went on: “As parents, we cannot go on strike. What we can do as funders of education is to stop paying taxes, a move that will bring the economy to its knees.”  

Trivialise funding 

Tunza Mtoto Coalition Executive Director Janet Ouko said it is unacceptable for the government to trivialise the funding of education. 

“The Kenya Kwanza government needs to know that the right to education is not open to discussion right now. It is a done deal. It is captured in the Constitution 2010,” Ouko said 

“It is not whether the government has money or not; it is a right of every child, and it is compulsory to fund basic education.” 

She warned that by the government sending mixed signals about school capitation, parents are at the mercy of head teachers who will now decide how much parents will pay when schools reopen. 

“When you remove capitation grants or reduce them, you are giving the head teachers a blank cheque to charge parents exorbitant fees. And that is how so many children will drop out of school,” she added.  

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