Student’s stranded after Great Lakes University closes Garissa campus over fees arrears
Some of the students of the Great Lakes University, Garissa campus, ponder their next move after their campus was closed over what the university says are huge fees balances. PHOTO | ABDIMALIK HAJIR | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The students have now threatened to sue Great Lakes University over the closure saying it has disregarded their plight.
- Mahat Muhumed Ali said the university’s claim is untrue as 80 per cent of them have cleared their fees.
- The university, whose main campus is in Kisumu, has been operating from the Garissa KMTC campus.
- The students now say they will take legal action if no amicable solution is found.
Hundreds of students of a private university are stranded after the institution closes its Garissa campus, saying the learners owe it huge fees balances.
The students have now threatened to sue Great Lakes University over the closure saying it has disregarded their plight.
Speaking to journalists in Garissa Town on Thursday the students said they had travelled from as far as Banisa in Mandera and the border town of Hulugho only to be given a short notice saying teaching and examinations at the Garissa campus have been cancelled.
Mahat Muhumed Ali said the university’s claim that they have not paid fees is only an excuse to deny students the chance to sit their examinations since 80 per cent of them have cleared their fees.
He said many of students come from far flung areas like Mandera and Wajir and have been staying in Garissa for the last three weeks preparing for the exams yet the university had not given proper communication to them.
“Today we are stranded while our colleagues in other campus are starting their examinations. Some of us have travelled from far flung areas for the exams.
ENGAGED LAWYER
“We have already engaged a lawyer and if we don’t get proper feedback from the institution we are going to seek legal redress,” he said.
The students claimed the university announced it was closing the Garissa campus on November 15, 2016 while their tutorials were scheduled to start on November 16.
Great Lakes University, whose main campus is in Kisumu, has been operating from the Garissa Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) in Garissa Town since 2012.
In a letter dated November 15, 2016 informing the students of the cancellation of teaching and examinations in Garissa, the university said it is not possible to have teaching and examinations done in November and December due to huge fee balances from the previous semester.
“I am aware that a few students have cleared their outstanding fees but this still is [enough] to cater for the logistics.
“All tutorial classes which were scheduled to start on 16th and 19th November 2016 have been transferred to [the] Nairobi campus Westlands, Centro House 4th and 5th floors,” read the letter from Mr Ogwayo Isaac Onyango, the campus director.
The affected students said their lawyer, C P Unono, has already communicated with the institution informing it that they will take legal action if no amicable solution is found.
