KMTC Student Adminssion Taken Up By National Placement Agent
After nearly 10 years of turf warfare and sibling rivalry between two government ministries, defined by a heightened sense of self-importance and legal battles, medical student placement to certificate and diploma colleges has been settled.
The national central placement agency currently accepts applications for all Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) medical programmes.
Dr Mercy Wahome, KUCCPS CEO, announced the site debuted on July 22, 2023.
Apply before August 4, 2023.
“This is a milestone because KMTC and KUCCPS have a common objective of enhancing access to quality higher education and training opportunities in a manner that is equitable to all Kenyans,” stated Dr. Wahome.
Community health nursing, mental health and psychiatry, midwifery, radiography and imaging, medical laboratory sciences, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and public health are diploma and certificate studies.
Dr. Wahome said KUCCPS will provide equity, fairness, and balanced access to KMTC courses.
She stated the application targets 2013–2022 KCSE graduates.
KUCCPS’s decision ends the nearly decade-long dispute over who placed students in KMTCs nationwide.
Parliament was divided on whose responsibility it was to place students in colleges, pitting Ministry of Education officials against Ministry of Health authorities.
Legal fight
The Kenya University and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) and the KMTC fought in court to win the authority.
KMTC defeated KUCCPS in court, reversing the Universities Act of 2012 mandate.
In 2015, KUCCPS declared Section 55 of the Universities Act mandates a single placement board to coordinate student placement to universities and colleges.
KMTC and KUCCPS officials used caustic letters to reclaim what they considered was theirs.
Admission questions
In a March 24, 2015 letter, the then-KMTC director, Olango Onudi, referenced Section 6 of the KMTC Act, which states: “Admission to the College as candidates for diplomas, certificates, or other awards shall be open to all persons accepted as being qualified by the Academic Board…”
Onudi said the institutions would keep their admissions.
“I wish to inform you that the KMTC Board of Management’s position on this matter is that the selection of students for the programmes offered by KMTC is the mandate of the College Academic Board, as stipulated in the KMTC Act…,” Onudi wrote to then-KUCCPS CEO John Muraguri.
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As per the KMTC Act, the College Academic Board selects students for KMTC’s programmes. Thus, we cannot provide the requested information,” he wrote on March 24, 2015. In another March 24, 2015 letter, Onudi restated this position.
Onundi concluded that KMTC had left the national joint admissions board that places students in universities and colleges.
We’ll manage our admissions like KUCCPS does. As our Act has not been abolished, we will promote,” Onudi told journalists.
KATTI intervened in April 2015 when fights delayed admittance.
Edwin Tarno, then-KATTI chairman, said KMTC admissions had historically favoured wealthy applicants.
“Ask anyone about those admissions. “KUCCPS only admitted Turkana students last year,” Tarno stated.
By law
Tarno quoted Section 52 of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Act: “Admission of students into technical and vocational education institutions shall be conducted by the Service established under the law relating to universities.”
The Universities Act 2012 and Tivet Act 2012 override Onudi’s law.
KUCCPS must place all college and university students by law. “KMTC must comply unless they offer a different qualification,” Tarno added.
The Health and Education ministries were active in KMTC-KUCCPS correspondence.
In September 2014, Education ministry officials before the Parliamentary Committee on Health.
Basic Education PS Bellio Kipsang and Muraguri represented the Ministry of Education in the closed-door committee meeting.
A meeting MP added, “We shall amend this law to kick out the new agency because it is not within their mandate to place students in these colleges.”
“It was a normal ‘housekeeping business,'” PS Kipsang said after the meeting, downplaying MPs’ anger.
Direct interest
Some MPs had partnered with the KMTCs and had a direct interest in the colleges, according to sources.
Some MPs agreed to develop KMTC campuses and receive 30% of the slots for their constituents. “KUCCPS works on merit and does not recognise this kind of arrangement,” a Ministry of Education official told MPs.
In 2015, the Health Cabinet Secretary, James Macharia, supported KMTC student admissions.
Macharia said KMTC might promote and admit students. “There should be no controversy; KMTC has the legal right and mandate to do the placement,” Macharia stated.
Despite the issue, KUCCPS placed 2,305 students in KMTC colleges. KMTC disowned the pupils.
Two students, David Mburu Mwangi and Anthony Thuita Mwai, secured temporary orders from the Nakuru High Court barring fresh KMTC admissions during the impasse.
Legal action followed the medical college’s disownment of KUCCPS students. The High Court stopped admissions until KUCCPS’s case was resolved.
Senior counsel Prof. Tom Ojienda represented KUCCPS in court, claiming the admissions were illegitimate. Ojienda claimed that KUCCPS has exclusive placement privileges for all colleges.
“The applicants are allowed to challenge the decision of KMTC to admit the students, and pending the determination of the suit, an order of prohibition is issued, stopping KMTC from admitting any of the selected students,” Justice Joseph Onguto declared in September 2015.
KMTC Student Adminssion Taken Up By National Placement Agent
Attorney General Githu Muigai ordered universal enrollment in October 2015.
Muigai also ordered all court lawsuits to be abandoned and an administrative solution to end the KUCCPS-KMTC impasse.
Education CS Jacob Kaimenyi, Health CS James Macharia, and KUCCPS and KMTC administration met to make the decision.
Joseph Kinyua, Head of Public Service, ordered the meeting to resolve the issue.
To simplify admissions, KMTC and KUCCPS were ordered to harmonise their admittance lists.
KMTC sent students to colleges.
Stalemate
Muraguri told the House Education Committee in April 2016 that the stalemate remained.
Months after the high-level meeting between CSs Kaimenyi and Macharia, the Head of Public Service intervened.
It’s unresolved. “The Attorney General and Head of Public Service asked us to withdraw the matter from court before the case was decided,” Muraguri stated.
Muraguri told MPs that KUCCPS had an internal solution to the stalemate, which has not been revealed.
Julius Melly, then-deputy chair of the education committee, said the Universities Act modification would ensure that only KUCCPS places students.
“KMTC is operating under some funny law, but after the amendments, we shall safeguard and ensure no other entity can place students in all colleges other than KMTC,” Melly stated.
Muraguri said student placement is different from admissions.
“KUCCPS only places government-sponsored students. Students are accepted by schools. KUCCPS places. Muraguri stated KUCCPS must place government-sponsored students.
Pulled out
KUCCPS stopped placing KMTC students.
KMTC administration panicked in 2018 as enrollment levels slowed, necessitating a recruitment effort.
Two years after KUCCPS withdrew from admissions. College principals should persuade students and parents to grant spots to suitable candidates.
65 KMTC schools are nationwide. The colleges can accommodate 8,000 people.
KMTC Student Adminssion Taken Up By National Placement Agent
