By Dex Mumo
On January 24, Trade and Investment CS Moses Kuria hinted that the gGovernment plans to privatise some public universities to salvage them from insolvency amid soaring debt.
He spoke during a press conference on supporting local businesses at Two Rivers, Nairobi. The story was featured in The Star newspaper, NTV, Citizen Digital and The Standard, among other mainstream media, because it came from an authority in Ruto’s government.
Recently, Education CS Ezekiel Machogu, shockingly denied the claims. On March 2, the Kenya News Agency reported that Machogu trashed the claims during the 10th anniversary endowment fundraising at the University of Kabianga.
“At no time have we sat in the Education ministry or in any other governance level to discuss privatisation of public universities in this country, and those peddling lies were people who have nothing good for this country or do not know anything about education in this country,” CS Machogu said.
Machogu further described those making the claims as “busybodies”.
“There are no plans to privatise our public universities. On the contrary, my administration is committed to supporting public universities by developing and enabling legal and policy environment and providing funding through capitation and student loans,” the CS added.
Machogu takes the media back to the drawing board. Did the press confirm from the Education CS regarding claims that essentially touched on his department? If so, where are the proofs for a rebuttal because the media’s reputation is at stake?
Initially, CS Kuria said he had made arrangements and established contacts with investors willing to venture into the business but was waiting for a go-ahead from Machogu.
No scribe is on record reaching out to the Education CS on his take about Kuria’s proposal.
They ran a story which had a high impact on all interested stakeholders.
The Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) and Kenya Universities Staff Union (Kusu) reacted to the reports. They demanded that the government withdraws public institutions of higher learning from the State Corporation Privatization Bill 2023. Likewise, the Kenya National Union of Teachers rose against privatising universities. Public intellectuals debated the implications of privatising public universities.
Kumbe, it was all hot air!
CS Machogu caught the media pants down. As journalists found solace in generalisation, they forgot that the Education CS is a superior authority to CS Trade on education matters. It is time the media stopped pursuing the government in general and followed the story from specific sources.
The story was awash with “the government has”, and assumed that CS Kuria’s utterances were the stand of the government. While that might usually be the case, such assumptions will permanently fix the media. And the government will always have the last laugh.
