Kenyatta University spent $4.2m to set up the Kigali campus and $0.9m to open the Arusha campus.
The university closed down the two campuses due to operational challenges following changes in legislation by both Rwandan and Tanzanian governments after KU had just met all the requirements and was ready to roll out their programmes.
Kenyatta University lost Ksh518 million ($5.18 million) it spent to set up Kigali and Arusha campuses after the Rwandan and Tanzanian governments shut down the institutions.
The Kenyan university spent Ksh420,749,207 ($4.2 million) to set up the Kigali campus and Ksh97,425,152 ($0.9 million) to open the Arusha campus.
Kenya's Auditor-general Edward Ouko says the university closed down the two campuses due to operational challenges following changes in legislation by both Rwandan and Tanzanian governments after KU had just met all the requirements and was ready to roll out their programmes.
“Although the university explained that all the due diligence was done before the decision to open up the two campuses, the management has not explained the steps being taken to recover the amount so far incurred totalling Ksh518,174,359 ($5.18m),” he said in a qualified audit opinion for the university’s books of accounts for the year to June 2018.
The National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee (PIC) in 2016 found that KU opened the Kigali campus without regulatory approvals from authorities in Nairobi and Kigali.
The Rwandan Ministry of Education had not given KU authority to operate in Kigali despite an application.
At its inquiry, the PIC noted that KU was yet to admit students in Rwanda but had plans to enrol learners in Arusha in September last year after receiving approvals from Tanzanian education authorities.
But in July 2017, then Education secretary Fred Matiang’i directed KU to close down its Tanzania campus, days after it was stopped from admitting students.
Dr Matiang’i accused KU management of establishing campuses outside the country without following due process.
He also ordered Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and 19 other universities to close down.
The directive followed revelations by Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) that an audit report of the institutions had revealed that they did not meet the required standards.
Kenya’s Commission for University Education had also blacklisted the campuses on grounds that they were set up abroad in contravention of the Universities Act.
Tanzania regulator went ahead and stopped KU, JKUAT, Kampala International University College and 16 others from admitting students for failing to meet quality standards.
Subsequently, the universities discontinued admissions of students to the campuses in September 2017.
Mr Ouko has also put the KU management under the spotlight for failing to diversify its employees, saying one ethnic community controls 45 per cent of senior management, 39 per cent academic staff and 42 per cent on non-teaching staff.
“University has failed to improve the ethnic balance as similar percentages remain unchanged compared to last years with an increase in percentage for non-teaching staff which increased from 30 per cent to 42 per cent.
Mr Ouko did not disclose the dominant ethnic community in his report dated May 28, 2018.
