About 12 public universities have no documentation for land and other assets valued at Sh19.6 billion, a new report shows.

The report of the Auditor General for the financial year 2023/24 raises concerns the institutions did not have title deeds, transfer documents, or other legal records to confirm ownership of land, buildings, or intellectual property reflected in their financial statements.

“Review of the universities’ records revealed that twelve (12) public universities lacked ownership documentation for properties and other assets valued at Sh19,550,011,056,” the report reads.

For instance, Kenyatta University reported 12.472 hectares of land valued at Sh123.3 million that had been encroached upon, and an additional Sh880,000 worth of land without ownership documents.

Similarly, land valued at Sh16.56 billion had not been transferred to Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), while South Eastern Kenya University lacked documentation for land and intellectual property worth a total of Sh2 billion.

At Egerton University, the report raises concerns over conflicting number of acres of land- between 1,500 or 2,000 acres- set aside by the university for maize cultivation, of which the beneficial owner is not known and value not disclosed.

At the National Defence University, property, plant and equipment balance of Sh39.4 million excludes land and buildings of undetermined value where the university headquarter sits, while in the case of Turkana University College, land valued at Sh80 million does not have ownership documents.

No documents

At Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, there are no ownership documents for assets worth Sh36.7 million transferred to Kenya-AIST from Ministry of Education while Laikipia University has unsupported land ownership amounting to Sh547 million. Murang’a University of Technology has a total of 18 parcels of land valued at Sh54 million encroached on and hived off from main parcel of land while long term investments of Sh25.3 million are registered in the names of trustees of the Murang’a Technical College.

At the University of Nairobi (UoN), intangible assets of Sh4.2 million and UNES Limited balance of Sh4.39 were not supported by contract documents and licences while at Multimedia University of Kenya, the ownership documents for two motorcycles in possession of the university were not provided for audit.

The report further raises concerns that another two universities had unaccounted-for assets. They include UoN, which reported several unsurveyed parcels of land susceptible to encroachment by informal settlers as well as having unsupported working-progress valued at Sh222.4 million of which no listing was provided for audit and gold worth an amount of Sh76 million, whose existence could not be verified. UoN maintained its fixed assets register in an unprotected Excel file, which is vulnerable to unauthorised edits or manipulation.

The report also raises concerns that four public universities did not maintain an updated fixed asset register. Kenyatta University, which had capital assets including a perimeter wall and water tanks valued at Sh142 million that were not capitalised in the financial statements.  Technical University of Kenya’s assets register lacked key details for items valued at Sh90.9 million, while Garissa University’s fixed assets register was incomplete.