Prof Bitange Ndemo yet to formally reject UoN VC position - Anangwe

University of Nairobi Council chairperson Prof Amukowa Anangwe. /FILE/UoN

In a statement on Tuesday co-signed by council members Carren Omwenga and Ahmed Abdullahi, Anangwe said Ndemo was yet to formally write to him rejecting his appointment.

"It is puzzling why Prof Elijah Bitange Ndemo decided to reject the appointment of Vice Chancellor as per the LinkedIn post after faring well in the interview at the Public Service Commission," Anangwe said.

In the LinkedIn post last week, Prof Ndemo stated that he had declined to accept the appointment because Anangwe failed to provide proof that he had sought the approval of the Cabinet Secretary of Education Julius Ogamba.

"Additionally, the chairman had already issued a letter to Prof Mulaa to act as VC until my release from my current post. The announcement triggered a flood of congratulatory messages on social media. However, I dissociate myself from this unprocedural process and have withdrawn my candidacy for the position," Ndemo wrote.

But Anangwe said the process of appointment of Ndemo as the UoN VC and Prof Francis Jackim Mulaa as Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, followed due process.

He said Ndemo requested him to issue him with the letter of appointment after initiating consultation with the Education CS, which he did.

The council chair added that he wrote to the CS on May 7 regarding Ndemo's appointment, but "to date, a response by the Cabinet Secretary has yet to be received.

Anangwe said the letter is a demonstration that he undertook a consultative process with the CS as required, but the buck stopped with the CS.

He said, given the foregoing, the narrative that he did not pursue consultations with the CS over Ndemo's appointment "is patently false".

"Prof Ndemo wrote to me a letter requesting for the concurrence of the Cabinet Secretary and I informed him of the ongoing consultative process and he was fully aware of what was going on. What made him to change his mind suddenly in the wee hours of the night, it is upto him to tell Kenyans," he said.

"But as the chairperson of the Council, Prof Ndemo is the duly appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Nairobi, unless he writes to me formally about his rejection, which he has yet to do," Anangwe added.

He said in the meantime, Pro Mulaa has been appointed acting VC for six months avert creating an administrative vacuum at the university.

Regarding Ndemo's bone of contention that the council did not seek Ogamba's concurrence over his appointment, Anangwe said the council is the appointing authority of the vice chancellor and Deputy Vice Chancellor, and the CS only plays a consultative role.

"The courts have pronounced themselves what the notion of “consultation” means; it is not synonymous with concurrence," he said, citing a 2022 judgment below.

“Consultation” does not give the consultee veto power over the decision; but it does not permit the consultor to disregard the input of the consultee without good reason," the court said.

Anangwe explained that the judgement means the University of Nairobi Council, being the appointing authority of the Vice Chancellor and Deputy Vice Chancellors, has the final say who to appoint, and may disregard the Cabinet Secretary’s contrary opinion with a good reason if it were to arise during the consultative process.

"A case in point is the appointment of Prof Stephen Gitahi Kiama as the Vice Chancellor in January 2020. The then Cabinet Secretary, Prof George Magoha objected to the appointment but the Council went ahead and appointed Kiama, disregarding Prof Magoha’s contrary view, and it was lawful for the Council to do so," Anangwe said.