Endless fight for the control of KUTRRH as Professor Wainaina vows to repossess facility
Soon after he was reinstated by the High Court as KU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Paul Wainaina has renewed the battle for control of the hospital which he says was primarily established to help train students pursuing medical courses
Intrigues continue to surround the ownership of Kenyatta University Teaching Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH), with Kenyatta University renewing its claim to the facility.
Soon after he was reinstated by the High Court as KU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Paul Wainaina has renewed the battle for control of the hospital which he says was primarily established to help train students pursuing medical courses.
On resumption of duty, Wainaina immediately renewed his push for KUTRRH to revert to the University for what he says was its intended purpose; to be a teaching and training facility for students doing medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and medical laboratory, among other health related fields.
“Training was the initial purpose of establishing the hospital, so it is sad when students from other universities continue to learn and train at KUTRRH as our trainees are struggling with substandard level 4 and 5 hospitals in Kiambu and Thika. This is quite unfair,” lamented Prof Wainaina after taking over following the High Court ruling that saw him back in office.
While revisiting the battle for ownership of the ultra modern hospital built at a cost of over Sh10 billion through Chinese Government funding, the VC accused both retired President Uhuru Kenyatta and President William Ruto’s regimes of orchestrating his ouster from the university due to his uncompromising stand in defence of students rights to access the medical facility.
Since its establishment in 2019, the premier cancer treatment and diagnostic hospital has been at the center of an endless row after it was registered as a State Corporation via Legal Notice No. 39 of 2021, against the wishes of Prof Wainaina’s administration which was determined to run the facility.
This set the stage for a bitter battle for control of the hospital between Wainaina and the then KUTRRH Board Chairperson Prof Olive Mugenda who had initiated construction of the project while she was still the KU Vice-Chancellor.
Wainaina who has been sent packing twice as Vice-Chancellor only to make a dramatic comeback in as many times, says he was targeted for refusing to compromise on his stand to defend the university’s interests.
“What hurts most is seeing KUTRRH being used by other students for training while our own are excluded, yet the university is the mother of this facility which is also built on KU land,”remarked the soft-spoken VC who is serving his second and final term which ends in January next year.
He had succeeded Prof Mugenda, his former boss at KU, one of the largest and prominent universities in the country, after the former was appointed by President Kenyatta to head the newly established level 6 hospital.
Prof Wainaina was first shown the door in 2022 at the height of a showdown over President Kenyatta administration’s decision to allocate the World Health Organization (WHO) land to put up a center within the university grounds.
This did not go down well with Prof Wainaina who vehemently opposed the move, leading to his unceremonious, but shortlived removal as head of the university.
Wainaina was reinstated by the Ruto administration upon its subsequent capture of power, but this was equally shortlived as he was again sent on compulsory leave by the university council the following year and Prof Waceke Wanjohi appointed acting VC.
But, unbowed and determined to pursue justice, after “suspecting foul play” in the move, he went to court seeking orders to resume duty which were granted on the Wednesday April 30th court ruling.
The VC says a recommendation by the Senate Committee on Health that the university medical students be given unlimited access to the hospital’s training facilities were also ignored.
“Both the Senate and the National Assembly gave their report and recommendations that the hospital belongs to KU, but to date nothing has been done to correct the anomaly,” said Prof Wainaina.
He asserts that his ambition and commitment is geared towards securing the hospital for students’ training purposes, at least before he retires.
Vincent Ochieng, the KU Health and Science Congress representative while concurring, pointed out that when students leaders petitioned the two parliamentary committees, they recommended that health students be allowed immediate and unfettered access to the hospital facilities.
“Unfortunately, more than one year down the line, we still can’t access our hospital. We hope that the VC will be able to gain control of the facility so that students can benefit,” said Ochieng.
The university lost control when the government made the hospital a parastatal through a legal notice and removed the Vice-Chancellor and a council representative from the management board, denying the institution powers to participate in decision making processes.
However, sources confided to ‘The Informer’ that the controversy over who should manage the hospital could be about lucrative business involving tenders for supply of medical equipment, food supplies and drugs, running into millions of shillings daily.
According to an insider at the referral facility who cannot be named, cartels and influential individuals with political connections have interests in striking business deals through tenders for supply of equipment and consumables.
“Deals worth hundreds of millions of shillings are made on a monthly basis at the hospital through tenders. This has attracted cartels within government and powerful individuals who are out to make a kill,” said the source.
