Plan to merge higher education regulatory agencies ill-informed

The government’s proposal to merge various regulatory and subsidiary institutions that support universities and higher education institutions in Kenya is an affront to the Constitution of Kenya, the Universities Act, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority Act, and other acts of Parliament that led to the establishment of these authorities following the enactment of the new Constitution. The matter is currently under legislative review process and could get parliamentary approval.

The government explains that the purpose of these mergers is to reduce inefficiencies and redundancy. The outcomes of these proposed mergers may be the exact opposite.

These institutions cumulatively employ thousands of Kenyans who work in different capacities. Politicians have openly denied that there will be massive layoffs. Merger initiatives result in reconfiguration of personnel infrastructure as independent divisions and units are collapsed into one. Automatically roles will change and some will be combined.

Eventually, job re-design and re-engineering process means that functions that were previously performed by several individuals will be undertaken by a single person or automated, leading to work overload and possible underperformance.

The President said that, the reforms have been necessitated by increasing fiscal pressures arising from constrained government resources, the demand for high quality public services, and the growing public debt burden. While these reasons are justified, rational and make a lot of sense, merging agencies that are already working with clear and distinct mandates in specific areas will only produce amorphous bodies that may increase further inefficiencies and financial burdens.

The government proposes to merge the University Fund with Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), Commission for University Education with Technical and Vocational Education, and Training Authority with Kenya National Qualifications Authority.

The specific mandates guiding the operations of these State corporations are clear. The University Fund was established to deal with matters of university funding while HELB deals specifically with student financing matters.

By merging these two entities, it means their dockets will be downsized to departments or divisions within the larger body to be newly established. This downsizing has the effect of job losses and increased unemployment at a time when the country has over 70 per cent of its population currently unemployed or out of gainful employment. This will exacerbate an already-dire situation.

The issue of student financing is a huge problem that has not been resolved even with the proposed new funding model. While proposing these drastic changes, the government has not conducted or reported having conducted any feasibility studies to see the possible ramifications of these changes.

Already, public resistance and a court order is challenging the implementation of the new funding model. The judicial bottlenecks involved in implementing the proposals will be problematic and will affect the smooth running of educational institutions. 

Educational stakeholders will definitely resist the process through court cases as currently being experienced with the implementation of the new University Funding model. This will slow down the activities in educational institutions with possible disruptions in learning.

Stakeholder engagement is a constitutional requirement when government seeks changes that affect the constitutionally-mandated institutions and the general public. Without public participation, there is no assurance that the process bears the goodwill of the people and hence its unpopularity among the populace.

Additionally, the transition period will be hectic and problematic, similar to the problems dogging in the healthcare system. This is a tremendous challenge that the proposers of these changes have not adequately addressed.

Ultimately, an effective and efficient educational system depends on the services of these institutions. Collapsing them into oligarchic bodies will create issues of harmonising their existing Information and Communications Technology infrastructure and management systems. These foreseen challenges override any benefits that may accrue.

In any case, there are no major complaints and quantified, evidence-based wastage in the the current institutions. The government should reconsider this proposal in light of its possible ramifications on the education sector.

-Dr Otieno is a lecturer, Department of Educational Management, Policy and Curriculum Studies, Kenyatta University