Renowned gospel musician, human rights activist, and former presidential candidate Reuben Kigame has called for the complete removal of presidential influence in the appointment of university chancellors and vice chancellors.

Taking to his official X account on Sunday, December 28, 2025, Kigame argued that Kenya’s public universities can only thrive if they are freed from political interference.

He insisted that academic leadership should be determined purely on merit through independent academic boards.

“We need to delink the appointment of Chancellors and Vice Chancellors of our universities from presidential prerogative. This should be left to academic boards. Public universities should be freed from political interference,” Kigame stated.

Kigame’s remarks come amid growing public concern over governance challenges in public universities, including frequent leadership wrangles, court battles, strikes, and declining global rankings.

UoN leadership wrangles

A new leadership row is brewing at the University of Nairobi (UoN) over the recruitment of the vice chancellor and the deputies, with the university’s University Academic Staff Union (UASU) members questioning the drive behind this latest move.

The university’s administration is accused of failing to advertise the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) Human Resources, leaving room for outside forces to manipulate and control the hiring process.

Speaking on Thursday, December 18, 2025, UASU Chapter Secretary Dr Maloba Wekesa pointed to what he termed a deliberate omission to advertise the aforementioned position, arguing that there is a sinister plan that will have dire effects on UASU staff.

“This is NOT an inadvertent omission. This is a deliberate omission which, in our opinion, sows a new seed of disorder that UASU fears, portending another round of unseen hands intent on controlling staff hiring and eventually the destiny of the University,” he said.

UASU also questioned how or who is now running the university since there have been delays in employing a new VC after the exit of Prof Stephen Kiama.

“The office of the vice chancellor has been without a substantive holder, Prof. Margaret Hutchinson holding it in an acting capacity … Efforts to employ a VC were undertaken, with Prof. Bitange Ndemo named for the role that he did not take up… Only this week, another recruitment process for that position, as well as those of two DVCs, was started. UASU is reading a sinister motive in this move,” Dr Wekesa added.