Varsity staff say no to housing levy and college funding model
Technical University of Mombasa staff rejected the three percent housing levy on Tuesday, claiming it will punish already-strangled pay slips.
Academic and non-academic personnel said they are oppressed by the government owing to low salary and cannot afford medical care or food.
“You must feed and fatten a cow to milk it. You want to milk this thin cow? “You will get blood instead of milk,” warned Kenya Universities Staff Union TUM Chapter chair Kassim Ziro.
They spoke outdoors.
Also Read: Government Finally Announces Amount to Deduct From All Kenyans’ Salaries
He claimed cutting three percent from pay slips already overloaded by loans will cause loan defaults and penalize workers.
KUSU TUM Chapter secretary John Ogwang stated most employees oppose the punitive housing levy and should be removed from the Finance Bill 2023.
“Our patriotic representatives in the National Assembly and Senate should reject the housing levy component in total,” Ogwang stated.
Ogwang suggested that the government fast-track CBA discussions and apply the 2017-2021 CBA to improve the lives of university academic and non-academic personnel instead of forcing the unpopular Finance Bill 2023 on them.
Also Read: Housing Levy Received With Criticism By KNUT Officials and other Unions
He found it odd that only the government knows the architecture of the intended impoverished dwellings.
Who builds these houses? House allocation: how? How will they expand nationwide? Which flavor? Ogwang wondered if they would be round, square, pyramid, or rectangular.
He claimed the houses cannot be bought since the biggest contributor would have to pay Sh5,000 each month for 40 years to buy a basic unit that costs Sh2.4 million.
Also Read: Education CS Machogu appoints new university councils
Prof. Ochieng Odalo, the Universities Academic Staff Union TUM Chapter secretary, said the Kenya Kwanza government’s student funding model is a clever way of reintroducing the failed merger of public universities through a forced collapse of higher institutions of learning.
Performance-based funding approaches including output-based funding, performance-set-aside money, and performance contracts have proven successful worldwide.
Prof. Odalo said the proposed model is discriminatory, punitive, and does not reward hard work by students who make it to university.
He predicted poor enrollment, high dropout rates, and horrible student living conditions owing to non-funding.
Public universities have higher, non-harmonised fees ranging from Sh114,000 to Sh720,000.
Odalo suggested suspending the model and creating meaningful public interaction with university students, staff, and management.
He added colleges need base financing, standardized fees, and student support.
Odalo stated, “We can’t have our top brains going to universities pursuing engineering, medicine, and architecture, living in slums.
The vulnerable, highly poor, needy, and less needy would get government scholarships at 82 percent, 70 percent, 53 percent, and 38 percent, respectively.
The Higher Education Loans Board will also lend students 18%, 30%, 40%, and 55%.
Prof. Odalo claimed vice chancellors were forced to adopt the financial approach.
VCs are trying to set fees currently. Odalo stated that they are not involved.
Varsity staff say no to housing levy and college funding model
