Stop ‘eyeing’ public universities land - CS Kuria warned

 

Academic Staff have faulted Trade CS Moses Kuria over his remarks that public universities have a lot of idle lands.

UASU secretary general Constantine Wasonga warned government officials of what he termed as ‘eyeing’ public universities' land.

Wasonga said all land that is seen to be idle is being utilized for other purposes.

“Some people walk in this country and they just see the land they feel is underutilized so they want to come in and invest,” Wasonga said.

The lectures opposed the move and asked government officials to stay away from the land.

“It’s a shame that some of you are just focusing on university land, that property is not for sale. University land is for research,” he said.

Kenya Universities Staff Union secretary general Charles Mukhwaya on his part faulted the government for failing to invest in education.

Mukhwaya said Kenya has failed to keep its promise to invest in quality education

.“According to UNESCO’s global education report, the African government allocates 4.4 per cent of GDP or 16 per cent of the national budget to education,” Mukhwaya said.

He clarified that this allocation falls short of the minimum education financing benchmarks of GDP and 20 per cent of the national budget.

The Education sector was allocated Sh544.4 billion in the 2022-2023 budget proposals, taking the biggest chunk of President Uhuru Kenyatta's last budget.

The budget estimates were presented in Parliament by then-Treasury CS Ukur Yatani on Thursday, April 7, 2022.

The 2022-2023 budget stood at Sh3.31 trillion, equivalent to 23.9 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).