Speech by Prof. F. J. Gichaga Chancellor of Jkuat, During Inauguration of Jkuat Council

SPEECH BY PROF. F. J. GICHAGA CHANCELLOR OF JKUAT, DURING INAUGURATION OF JKUAT COUNCIL, ON TUESDAY, 12TH FEBRUARY 2013

Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Higher Education, Science and Technology

The Chairman of JKUAT Council

The Members of the JKUAT Council

The Vice-Chancellor, JKUAT

The Management Staff of JKUAT

Students

Distinguished guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

I wish to congratulate and welcome those who have been newly appointed to be members of the JKUAT Council. I also wish to thank those who have retired after serving as Council Members for the last one and half years.

As you know we now have the Universities Act, 2012 which appeared in the Kenya Gazette supplement dated 13th December 2012. The Act provides for the development university education; the establishment, accreditation and governance of universities; the establishment of the Commission for University Education, the Universities Funding Board and the Kenya University and Colleges Central Placement Service Board; the repeal of certain laws and for connected purposes.

During this inauguration ceremony I shall refer to some sections of this new Act as regards the functions of the University Council and the governance of this institution. Before we come to that, let me briefly touch on the history of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in order to assist those who may not know. The institution started as a college to provided training opportunities in Agriculture and Technology at Diploma and Certificate levels way back in the 1970’s with financial support by the Japanese government. The college was later upgraded to be a constituent college of Kenyatta University and in 1994 Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology became a fully-fledged university with its own Act of Parliament.

The university has grown over the years and now hosts several campus colleges and constituent colleges. As you probably know some of those constituent colleges have already received charter under the new universities Act, 2012. We are scheduled to obtain our charter later during this month.

During this inauguration ceremony I intend to highlight some sections of the universities Act No. 42 of 2012, as follows:

Section 3(1) on objectives of university education

Section 3(2)

Section 4 on establishment of the commission for university education which is the successor to the commission for higher education

Section 5 on the functions of the commission

Section 13 on establishment of a university

Section 18 on Accreditation report for purposes of grant of charter

Section 19 on grant or refusal to grant a charter

Section 20 on effect of a charter

Section 23 on effect on statutes

Section 29 on academic freedom

Section 34 on instruments of governance

Section 35 on governing organs of a university

Section 36 on council of a public university

Section 37 on committees

Section 38 on the chancellor

Section 39 on the vice-chancellor

Section 42 on the alumni association

Section 43 on university management board

Section 44 on annual estimates

Section 47 on accounts and audit

Section 55 on establishment of a Kenya universities and colleges central placement service

Section 60 on general functions of a university council

Section 61 on display of instruments of accreditation

Section 63 on fair administrative action

Section 71 on repeal of various acts including JKUAT Act No. 8 of 1994

Section 72 on grant of charter to existing public universities

Section 76 on chancellors, vice-chancellors councils

I have taken time to read the above sections of the Universities Act 2012 deliberately and I assume that you will obtain copies of the Act as well as the Charter and other documents which are used in the management of this University. I am emphasizing this because I found it useful to quote the relevant provisions in the Act and the statutes, when defending decisions /actions in the various offices that I occupied in the hierarchy of the University of Nairobi.

As I conclude this address, let me state, as I have done many times that a university is universal and comprises many experts, professionals, intellectuals and at times people of strange characters. Some of these will be supportive of the council’s decision and will even offer to assist the institution achieve its objectives but unfortunately there are others who only see the negative side of the council’s decisions and they can criticize you vehemently. That is why I have emphasized the need to understand the provisions in the Act and the statutes so that you can always be in a position to defend your action.

Ladies and gentlemen, I came here today to inaugurate the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology Council

Accordingly, it gives me great pleasure to declare the Council of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology official inaugurated. And with those remarks, I wish the JKUAT Council the best of luck in executing its mandate.

Thank you and my God bless us all.