Education Cabinet Secretary (CS), Julius Migos Ogamba has demanded for accountability and transparency from all education officials on funds disbursed by the government to public learning institutions.
He stressed on the government’s commitment to prioritize funding to the education sector since it was the backbone of national development owing the fact that at least Sh144 billion was allocated to the State Department for Higher Education during the current financial year.
“I call upon all universities, including the distinguished Maseno, and other learning institutions to embrace value-for-money principles in the utilization of public resources. Each shilling must translate into improved teaching, better facilities, and a dignified student experience,” the CS said.
In July this year, the Office of the Auditor-General released a report which exposing major gaps and irregularities in the disbursement of capitation funds to public schools – including payments to ghost and defunct institutions leading to a staggering Sh117 billion shortfalls in funding over the past four financial years.
The nearly 40 public varsities in the country are reeling under e heavy debt totaling over Sh80 billion, part of it is being probed to ascertain authenticity.
The remarks were contained in a speech read on his behalf by Principal Secretary (PS), the State Department for Higher Education and Research, Dr. Beatrice Muganda Inyangala, during the 25th Graduation of Maseno University On Friday, where over 5,600 graduands were conferred with degrees and diplomas.
The CS advised the graduands to use the knowledge and training gained to serve, question the wrongs and improve the society.
“You must carry with you not only the knowledge gained but also the character formed. For, as the writer George Eliot noted, “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” In other words, your future is not fixed; it is open, awaiting your innovation, your courage, and your resilience,” said the CS.
Ogamba told the graduands that Kenya needs problem-solvers, innovators, ethical leaders, and compassionate professionals and the communities and the world need them and the world awaits their intellect and their integrity.
He thanked the lecturers and staff of Maseno University and the entire country whom he said gave their best into shaping the future of the learners.
“This year presented challenges, including labour tensions. Yet, you chose dialogue over conflict, collaboration over confrontation. Your commitment affirms Aristotle’s enduring truth: Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all,”.
He said by embracing dialogue, the lectures in the country who ended their strike last week showed that leadership, especially academic leadership, begins with wisdom, patience, and empathy.
Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) on November 5, 2025, signed a return-to-work formula with the government to end the 49-day lecturers’ strike, thus bringing a relief to both students, parents, guardians and other education stakeholder-holders.
Ogamba praised Maseno University which he said continues to position itself strategically within the national and global academic landscape.
“The establishment of the School of Law and the School of Pharmacy reflects a bold commitment to expanding professional training in the region,” he noted.
He added that Maseno’s long-standing model of integrating IT across all degree programmes remains one of its most distinctive strengths. The CS further noted that in a world increasingly driven by technology; from artificial intelligence (AI) to biotechnology, Maseno graduates leave here ready to compete with their peers from world-leading universities such as Stanford, and the National University of Singapore.
The Maseno University Chancellor Prof. Julius Omondi Nyabundi said the university had positioned itself to offer high profile programmes including Pharmacy and Law whose inception students are now in their fourth year of studies.
The Vice Chancellor thanked the government of Kenya and in particular the Ministry of Education for the support accorded to the institution toward fulfilling the institution’s mandate of instilling skilled knowledge to the learners.
Noting that the Friday`s graduands are a product of sacrifice and dedication by both the families of the graduands and the academic fraternity of Maseno University, the Vice Chancellor equally thanked the University’s council and senate for their diligence in the running of the institution even as he also appreciated the various faculty deans and management for providing high quality tuition and supervision to the graduands.
Nyabundi quoted Nelson Mandela’s popular saying that education is the most powerful tool you can use to change the world as a cornerstone upon which the foundation of Maseno academic fraternity is propped.
“The hallmark of education is to instill in the graduands the capacity of critical and rational thinking that should enable them to be ideal citizens and succeed in all spheres of life and to find their niche and excel in it” advised Nyabundi
He pointed that Maseno University has made great strides towards investing in research funding geared at changing the society and the world.
He challenged the graduands to use the knowledge they acquired while in Maseno towards good application and success that will make Maseno be counted as a place of gaining skillful knowledge application.
He noted that more than 8,500 in the 25/2026 group of First years learners picked Maseno University as their preferred 1st University of choice due to the university’s academic reputation.
He pointed that Maseno has made colossal investment in infrastructural development including tuition blocks and students hostels that has elevated the institution to a national hub of academic excellence.
He however lamented that the university has over the years received limited development funding with most of the current structures within the institution being those majorly inherited from the former Siriba technical training college that was bundled into Maseno university.
He however noted that through concerted efforts by both the university’s senate and commercial loans notable strides have been made in making the university attractive that has seen the development of new hostels and 3 amphitheaters
The university’s acting Chancellor Omollo Ongati who graced the graduation hailed the university’s management on the development front and for the prudent use of resources manifest and evident at the university.
By Mabel Keya- Shikuku and Milton Onyango
