Kenya: A principal secretary nominee is at the centre of a major university scandal in which hundreds of students obtained degrees in dubious circumstances.
The nominee, Prof Japhet Ntiba Micheni, has been council chairman of the Presbyterian University of East Africa (PUEA), which has been hit by a series of fi nancial, management and academic scandals.
Micheni, who will this week go before the parliamentary vetting committee to seek clearance as Principal Secretary for Fisheries, faces an uphill task if submissions against him are anything to go by.
He also faces several court cases relating to the hiring and fi ring of staff while the university is defending suits by suppliers and contractors over claims running into hundreds of millions of shillings.
During a court appearance last Wednesday to defend a case brought against him by a former member of staff, the professor sought to have the claim settled out of court.
But the most damaging of the allegations against him is that, under his watch, students were granted degrees with cooked-up results whenever unpaid lecturers withheld results.
Details have emerged that implicate the office of the registrar at Presbyterian University with forging results for students. Some have gone on to graduate.
With no results to help assess how students perform in order to promote them to the next semester, the office of the registrar has resorted to awarding marks to students at random in the courses taught by part time lectures, a member of staff at the university reveals.
Withhold the results
“The students just see their marks but they don’t get back their exam papers. All part time lecturers haven’t been paid for two years now, and some continue teaching. They give exams but they withhold the results. They did this thinking they could cripple the university graduation last year, but were shocked when all the students graduated, yet the lecturers hadn’t submitted the results for most of the tests unless they were paid.”
read mores at Standard Digital News
The nominee, Prof Japhet Ntiba Micheni, has been council chairman of the Presbyterian University of East Africa (PUEA), which has been hit by a series of fi nancial, management and academic scandals.
Micheni, who will this week go before the parliamentary vetting committee to seek clearance as Principal Secretary for Fisheries, faces an uphill task if submissions against him are anything to go by.
He also faces several court cases relating to the hiring and fi ring of staff while the university is defending suits by suppliers and contractors over claims running into hundreds of millions of shillings.
During a court appearance last Wednesday to defend a case brought against him by a former member of staff, the professor sought to have the claim settled out of court.
But the most damaging of the allegations against him is that, under his watch, students were granted degrees with cooked-up results whenever unpaid lecturers withheld results.
Details have emerged that implicate the office of the registrar at Presbyterian University with forging results for students. Some have gone on to graduate.
With no results to help assess how students perform in order to promote them to the next semester, the office of the registrar has resorted to awarding marks to students at random in the courses taught by part time lectures, a member of staff at the university reveals.
Withhold the results
“The students just see their marks but they don’t get back their exam papers. All part time lecturers haven’t been paid for two years now, and some continue teaching. They give exams but they withhold the results. They did this thinking they could cripple the university graduation last year, but were shocked when all the students graduated, yet the lecturers hadn’t submitted the results for most of the tests unless they were paid.”
read mores at Standard Digital News
