On January 30, 2013, President Mwai Kibaki awarded a charter to Technical University of Mombasa (TUM), (formerly The Mombasa Polytechnic University College), making it the first ever full-fledged public university in Coast region and Kenya’s twelfth public university.  

The following day, the President conferred a similar status to Pwani University in Kilifi county.

Before the Mombasa Polytechnic University College attained its autonomy as a university, it was a constituent college of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology while Pwani University was an affiliate of Kenyatta University.

It is for that reason that Coast scholars have described the third President as a leader who revolutionised higher learning in the region.

TUM’s Vice Chancellor Prof Laila Abubakar says since it was awarded the charter, 16,678 students have graduated from the university, a success ,the VC says, the university owes to the departed president.

Improved accessibility

“If he had not come up with the idea of elevating university colleges to universities, then access to university education in the region would have remained a dream,” says Abubakar said in an interview with People Daily yesterday.

She said people who would have found it difficult to access university education outside the region due to financial constraints have benefitted from the transformation of the two institutions.

Immediate former Agriculture Principal Secretary Prof Hamadi Boga, who was the Principal of Taita Taveta University College (now Taita Taveta University), says Kibaki will be remembered for expanding university education.

“Kibaki meant well for the education sector,” Boga said in a phone interview.

The pioneer vice chancellor of TUM Prof Josphat Mwatelah says the elevation of the college to a university came after a series of notable developments.

“Kibaki’s government played a big role in ensuring that we attained the needed capacity through training and improvement of infrastructure,” says Mwatelah.

Marine engine

By expanding university education, the former VC said, the third President was keen to ensure that all Form Four students who had completed KCSE and met the university entry requirements were able to pursue higher learning.

He said the Kibaki administration ensured that elevated colleges maintained the TVET education while at the same time offering the traditional university programmes.

A particular achievement under the Kibaki’s administration, he said, was the acquisition of  a state-of-art Marine Engine Simulator to enhance the institution’s status as a world class university of engineering, science and technology, giving it an edge over other institutions offering similar courses.

He recalls that during the ceremony to award the Charter, he, being the Acting VC, dressed President Kibaki with the graduation gown that the university had made.

“He understood that we were undergoing the knowledge-based economy and without knowledge then the economy could not prosper,” he says.

He added that through Kibaki’s directive lecturers in various faculties were awarded scholarships to study in South Africa, Britain, Japan while others studied locally.