Why Nyagahs want a piece of USIU-Africa

The family of the late veteran politician Jeremiah Nyagah is now claiming a stake in the ownership of United States International University-Africa.

The Jeremiah Nyagah Trust has told the Education Committee of the National Assembly that their patriarch sold the land to USIU-San Diego on agreement that their family interests would be taken care of.

“Our late father used to remind us that we have a stake in the institution. Even the mode of payment was fair to the university and whenever they had a challenge our parents gave them good credit terms,” his son, former Cabinet minister Joe Nyagah, who now chairs the Trust, told the parliamentary committee.

He said that his father also used his influence as a minister to support the university. Mr Nyagah said the family had now turned to the legislators for help after the USIU-Africa leadership allegedly denied them an opportunity to be part of the institution’s ownership structure.

The committee, chaired by Julius Melly (Tinderet, URP) last year opened an investigation to determine, among other things, the ownership of USIU-Africa which is one of the oldest private universities in Kenya, as well as its governance and financial structures.

The investigation followed an order by Speaker Justin Muturi, last year, after the Education ministry apparently supplied an “unsatisfactory” answer to questions posed by Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka.

Mr Nyagah told the committee that in exchange for the favourable terms of the land transaction, his late parents had agreed on some form of “partnership”, ownership or some other form of interest in USIU at a future date when the university stabilised.

He added that this was based on the “understanding” with the then President of the university, Dr William Rust.

Mr Nyagah told the committee that in pursuit of that interest, the family established that the USIU-San Diego land had been transferred in 2001 to USIU-Africa.

“The focus of the trust then shifted to establish how the USIU-San Diego land was transferred to USIU-Africa,” he said.

Mr Nyagah told the committee that USIU-Africa Vice Chancellor  Freida Brown had in the past recognised “the role our late father played in the existence of the university”. He warned the family would go to court to seek justice.

However, Mr Nyagah was had pressed to explain why the family was demanding a stake in the ownership structure of the university yet it had sold the land to the institution.

In February, this year, the family wrote to USIU-Africa council asking the university to provide legal evidence of incorporation of the Trust in its financial ownership structure.

But the university’s lawyers responded that the intent of the letter was not clear and asked the family to “clarify the matter and, in particular the relationship between Jeremiah Nyagah Trust and USIU”.