Bishop moves to take control of Kemu

A leadership controversy is raging at the Kenya Methodist University. The dispute , which pits Methodist Church Presiding Bishop Stephen Kanyaru and ousted vice-chancellor Mutuma Mugambi, is headed to the courts next week.

A case had been instituted earlier protesting at the removal of some members of the university’s Board of Trustees, led by former chancellor Prof Zablon Nthamburi. The court on February 15 ruled in favour of the university.

Bishop Kanyaru, the university chancellor, then convened the newly-constituted Board of Trustees, which reversed an earlier directive that the chancellor could not also be chairman of the University Council. The board, therefore, dissolved the University Council, chaired by former Finance minister David Mwiraria.

New council

The board appointed a new council, replacing a number of members and picking Bishop Kanyaru as the new chairman of the University Council. A council meeting was called for the following day at the university’s Nairobi campus.

The new council sealed the fate of the ousted vice-chancellor, Prof Mugambi, by sacking him. “It is that council that purportedly removed me from office,” Prof Mugambi, who was then out of the country, said in an interview.

“As the secretary to the council, I did not issue any notification of a meeting and, therefore, the meeting that took place had no agenda.” The vice-chancellor said he found a letter dated February 16 on his desk informing him that his services had been terminated.

Senate meeting

“The letter, signed by Bishop Kanyaru as chairman of the council, stated that my services were no longer required and went on thank me for the commendable job I had done for the university since it was established,” Prof Mugambi said.

He had reported to his office on Wednesday, February 17, and got information that all was not well. He called a Senate meeting to discuss the turn of events and the Senate resolved not to close the university. Asked to explain why the university was closed later on Thursday, Prof Mugambi said the vice-chancellor was authorised to act and inform the Senate after.

“As we left that day, I got my sacking letter. Besides, the chancellor was at the gate waiting to enter the university with his new council and I had ordered that they should not be let in,” he said. Security personnel assisted the council members to force their way into the university’s administration block.

Prof Mugambi explained that the action of the council prompted him to announce the closure of the university the following day. He said the action was meant to allow for discussions to try and resolve the controversy.

The new council, consisting of John Ataya, Daniel Inoti, Elias Njoka, Linda Kilimo, and Peter Karanja, as incoming members, was said to have appointed one of Prof Mugambi’s deputies, Prof Alfred Mutema, acting vice-chancellor and directed that an announcement be made that the university would remain open.

Those who were retained in the council include Peter Ngatia, Brighton Ochieng, Jothan Micheni, Reuben Marambii, and Dorothy Kamwilu. “I decided not to pursue the matter further. I have not set foot at the university since then. I decided to argue my case from outside,” Prof Mugambi said.

Saturday Nation has learnt that the conflict revolves around the implementation of a charter awarded to the Meru-based university in 2006. Sources said the charter assumes that a university chancellor is a titular head (leader in name only) of the institution while the vice-chancellor is the chief executive.

The sources who did not want to be named because they are not authorised to speak on behalf of the university said Bishop Kanyaru has been accused of ignoring the provisions of the charter. He is the chancellor and there was a perception that he is illegally actively involved in the management of the university as chairman of the council, the institution mandated with the day-to-day running of the university.

Bishop Kanyaru is also the chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees, the body that holds the university in trust on behalf of the church. In 2008, the trustees had agreed to remove the chancellor from chairing the council and Mr Mwiraria was appointed to replace him.

In February last year, Bishop Kanyaru asked the council to appoint a new vice-chancellor, arguing that the term of Prof Mugambi had ended. He argued that since the charter provided for a maximum of two five-year terms, Prof Mugambi had overstayed his contract (which was negotiated before the university obtained a charter).

“He had been the university’s vice chancellor for over 10 years,” Bishop Kanyaru told Saturday Nation during an interview. But Prof Mugambi said he has a contract signed by the council which runs into 2013. “It is the council that hires and they gave me a contract under which I am serving. I don’t understand where the problem is coming from,” Prof Mugambi said.

Bishop Lawi Imathiu, who founded the university, argues that a contract needed to be honoured, but that the holder of the contract need not necessarily be present. “When a creator asks the creation to leave, the latter should listen. When an argument ensues, the creation would be in trouble,” he said.

But Prof Mugambi insisted that the charter’s directives did not apply to his earlier contract. He brought to the attention of the council a ruling in a case that had been filed to prevent then President Daniel Moi from vying in the 1992 General Election because the amended Constitution provided for two five-year terms for a head of state.

The verdict was that the law cannot be applied retrogressively. The council was said to have discussed the matter with the chancellor, but he was said to have been determined to see the vice-chancellor out, according to some council members who have since been replaced and did not want to speak on record.

An arbitration team was formed by the Board of Trustees to try to resolve the matter. It consists of National Council of Churches of Kenya secretary general Peter Karanja, Jesse Kamau, John Gatu, and retired Anglican Church Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi. Bishop Nzimbi cautioned that personal differences should not be allowed to paralyse the operations of the university.

“The university is not for Methodists only. Their simmering differences, therefore, should end,” Bishop Nzimbi said. His view is shared by Bishop Imathiu. “If the two love the university, they should be quiet, as I have been even after being thrown out of the university’s lime light,” he said.

Sources have traced the genesis of the dispute to the new contract awarded to Prof Mugambi by the council. The sources claimed that this was done against Bishop Kanyaru’s wishes, who allegedly rallied the church to have some members of the Board of Trustees removed.

They included former Kenya Anti-Corruption director Aaron Ringera, head of public service Francis Muthaura, Kenya Tea Development Agency chairman Stephen Imanyara, and former university chancellor Zablon Nthamburi. Prof Nthamburi filed a case in court challenging the decision.