Moi University’s woes: Ruto pledges task force

A task force will look into the financial and leadership problems bedevilling Moi University, President William Ruto has said. Speaking yesterday, the President asked the university’s teaching and non-teaching staff to be patient as sustainable revival plans are created.

Questions about the university’s leadership have been at the centre of frequent industrial action by lecturers and other workers. Ruto made the remarks when he presided over the opening of a Sh70 million Ngeria Technical Training Institute in Kapseret sub-county, Uasin Gishu County, on Friday.

“I’ll form a task force to rescue Moi University from its problems, including issues of leadership and ensuring that it has sufficient funding to stay afloat,” he said.

President Ruto’s assurances came amid fresh calls for yet another strike by the university’s workers, just over a month after they signed a return-to-work deal with the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum. In a joint statement from the Moi chapters of the Universities Academic Staf Union (UASU) and the Kenya University Staf Union (KUSU) issued last Friday, the unions directed their members to suspend their services indefinitely.

The unions explained that Moi had failed to respect the terms of the return-to-work agreement.

“Following a meeting of all members of staf of Moi University, it has been decided that the industrial action commenced last year in August 2024 be resumed with immediate efect,” union ofcials said in the statement. “This means that staf is withdrawing all their services to the employer.