KMTC board Replaced as students placement row rages
The appointment of board members for Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) has been overturned, and a new group has been gazetted by Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha.
The CS stated that the appointments of Jennifer Bosibori Kibagendi, Stephen Ochiel, Naomi Kathure Mutua, and Fredrick Wamwaki are cancelled in a gazette notification dated August 18, 2023.
With effect from August 18, 2023, Nakhumicha appointed Paul Kaino Cheboi, Eunice Wangui Karanja, Hardlyne Lusui, and Joseph Ouma Atonga to the board for a term of three years.
Zachary Muburi Muita has been replaced as board chairman by Josea Kiplangat Cheruiyot.
The adjustments were made a few days after the National Assembly’s Health Committee met and ordered KMTC to resume placing and admitting students to the institutes.
However, insiders told The Standard that President William Ruto personally intervened to ensure fairness in the admissions process when he decided to permit Kenya Universities and campuses Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) to put students in KMTC campuses.
According to a source with knowledge of the intrigues surrounding student placement, “the president was keen to ensure equity, fairness, and balanced access to the training opportunities during placement of students to all KMTC colleges.”
The long-running dispute between the two government agencies over the placement and admission role was resolved by the decision to transfer the procedure to KUCCPS.
Also Read:Â Ruto Appoints Joseah Kiplangat as New KMTC Chairperson
When KUCCPS chief executive Dr. Mercy Wahome made the news in July, she said: “This is a milestone because KMTC and KUCCPS have a common objective of enhancing access to quality higher education and training opportunities in a manner that is equitable to all Kenyans.”
In her list of diploma and certificate programmes, she included things like community health nursing, mental health and psychiatry, midwifery, radiography and imaging, medical laboratory sciences, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and public health.
The application portal for students to apply to different KMTC colleges was opened by KUCCPS on July 22, 2023.
Dr. Wahome stated in a message to newsrooms that the application was aimed at pupils who passed the KCSE exam between 2013 and 2022.
She stated that applications are accepted for 30 KMTC programmes. The application deadline was August 4, 2023.
The ministry and KUCCPS personnel were called before MPs on August 10 over the placement procedure, but this was just a few days after the application deadline had passed.
On August 10, MPs called KUCCPS management and senior Ministry of Education officials to discuss placing the students in the KMTC universities.
Dr. Wahome, the chief executive of KUCCPS, attended the meeting in place of Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu.
The MPs ordered that the suspension of the student placement process that the KUCCPS was already carrying out during the meeting.
Additionally, they ordered KMTC to actively market and put students at other colleges across the nation.
On Saturday, Nakhumicah informed The Standard that the MPs’ decision had been reversed.
“The decision by the Health Committee of the (National Assembly) was rescinded,” she declared.
According to insiders, the board was reorganised after it became clear that some of its members were undermining the hiring process.
It can be unpleasant when someone is considered to pull in a different direction after higher powers make certain strategic decisions for the welfare of Kenyans, according to an insider.
KMTC board Replaced as students placement row rages
