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{
    "id": 236648,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/236648/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 325,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang'-Nyong'o",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 193,
        "legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
        "slug": "peter-nyongo"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was saying that the current crisis at the public universities has a long historical background. In the 1960s and 1970s, the terms and conditions of service of the University of Nairobi, which was then the only public university, were very competitive in the region, in Africa and internationally. However, after the 1970s and 1980s, the terms and conditions of service did not improve with the change of time. This means that they became increasingly non-competitive. However, more importantly, the 1970s and 1980s, were the years of political repression which drove a lot of university dons out of the university to seek refuge elsewhere. As such the university was greatly depleted of lecturers, professors and assistant professors. There was a decline in teaching, research and in the standard of education. However, at that point in time, the number of students going to university increased tremendously, which necessitated the establishment of more public universities in this country. This was commendable. So, while we had one public university in the 1970s, we now have six public universities with many students. We need to have more universities. If we will have more students in the universities, we must train more academic staff, reward them well and keep them in our universities on competitive terms and conditions of service. However, precisely because these conditions have been going down, those who have money take their children abroad for higher education rather than let them school here. It has been estimated that this country spends between Kshs20 billion to Kshs30 billion annually paying school fees abroad for purely higher education. In Uganda alone, we are spending close to Kshs2.8 billion educating our children. This means that we are depriving our economy of this money which would go a long way to help in development, not just of our universities, but of our economy as a whole. So, if we do not improve the conditions of service of our university lecturers by paying them more money, we are in actual fact being penny wise and pound foolish."
}