Help save our only campus, Laikipia leaders tell Uhuru

Laikipia leaders have appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene and stop the planned closure of Laikipia University Campus in Nyahururu Town.

The leaders, led by their Governor Joshua Irungu, said the campus is the only institution of higher learning in the county.

Mid this year, the Commission for University Education (CUE) directed the management of the university to close its six campuses across the country from January next year.

This was after they were found to have failed to meet the required standards for higher training.

NOISY ENVIRONMENT

Some of the campuses were found to be either located in a noisy environment or were not sustainable.

Laikipia University’s affected satellites campuses are located in Nyahururu, Nairobi, Eldoret, Naivasha, Embu and Maralal.

Last month, the management of Laikipia University announced the closure of the campuses in line with the CUE directive.

The Nyahururu campus was found to lack teaching facilities and infrastructure.

BIG BLOW

But Mr Irungu, Laikipia County Assembly Speaker Patrick Mariru, Majority Leader Joseph Kabachi among others have  termed the move as a big blow to the area residents

They urged Mr Kenyatta to order CUE and Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i to spare the institution closure of the Nyahururu satellite campus and order it to do the necessary constructions.

“We are urging the president to intervene and stop the planned closure of the satellite campus," they said, adding had that a five-acre parcel had been set aside for the institution.

“As leaders from this region, we are ready to do anything it takes so that the campus is not closed. Even if it means for us to fundraise and construct a better campus,” Mr Irungu told journalists in Nyahururu Town on Thursday.

DESERVES MORE

Mr Mariru said the county had only one institution of higher learning and it deserves more institutions instead of closing the existing ones.

Mr Kabachi, who is also the area MCA, noted that closing the only satellite campus in the town was a ridicule to the residents.

“How can you close institution when we need more? This is the only institution of higher learning that we have in this town and it serves residents from all levels of life,” he said.

County Vice Chairperson of Maendeleo ya Wanawake Mrs Irene Wachuka, who is currently studying her diploma in community development at the institution, noted that a majority of students in the campus were government workers who attended classes in the evening.

Shutting the campus, she said, would force them to terminate their studies.