Placement agency takes over KMTC admission after nine-year battle

The dispute over where to place medical students in certificate and diploma colleges has been settled after almost ten years of turf warfare, sibling rivalry, and court fights between two government departments.
All students may now apply through the national central placement agency if they intend to pursue medical studies at any of the Kenya Medical Training College facilities.
Dr. Mercy Wahome, the chief executive of Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service, said that the portal would launch on 22 July, 2023.
The submissions must be done by 4 August, 2023.
“This is a milestone because KMTC and KUCCPS have a common objective of improving access to high-quality training opportunities and higher education in a way that is equitable to all Kenyans,” stated Dr Wahome.
A total of 30 KMTC programs are open for applications.
Community health nursing, mental health and psychiatry, midwifery, radiography and imaging, medical laboratory sciences, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and public health are just a few of the programs available at the diploma and certificate levels.
The inclusion of the KMTC courses on the KUCCPS platform, according to Dr. Wahome, will guarantee equal, impartial, and balanced access to the training possibilities.
According to her, the application is intended for students who passed the KCSE exam between 2013 and 2022.
The dispute over who had the authority to assign students to the numerous KMTCs dispersed around the nation is now gone thanks to the ruling by KUCCPS.
Parliamentarians disagreed on the floor about whose responsibility it was to place the students in colleges, which led to a dispute between officials from the Ministries of Health and Education.
Legal conflict
In order to obtain the mandate, two government agencies—Kenya University and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) and the KMTC—fought it out in court with the help of their attorneys.
KMTC ultimately prevailed in the legal dispute, removing the authority that KUCCPS had asserted was granted to it under the Universities Act of 2012.
As the dispute continued, KUCCPS asserted in 2015 that Section 55 of the Universities Act creates a single placement board with the responsibility of coordinating the admission of students to colleges and universities.
The leadership of the two institutions flexed their muscles in terse correspondence between KMTC and KUCCPS to reclaim what they each claimed to be their own.
Enrollment inquiries
In a letter dated 24 March, 2015, the then-KMTC director Olango Onudi referenced Section 6 of the KMTC Act on admission, which reads: “Admission to the College as candidates for diplomas, certificates, or other awards shall be open to all persons accepted as being qualified by the Academic Board…”
According to Onudi, each university would continue to handle admissions on its own.
The letter Onudi wrote to John Muraguri, then-CEO of KUCCPS, begins, “I wish to inform you that the KMTC Board of Management’s position on this matter is that the College Academic Board’s responsibility for selecting students for the programs offered by KMTC is stipulated in the KMTC Act.”
“I would like to let you know that the KMTC Board of Management believes that, in accordance with the KMTC Act, the College Academic Board has the authority to choose students for the programs that KMTC offers. Therefore, we are unable to provide you with the necessary information,” he wrote in a letter dated 24 March, 2015. In a letter that was also dated 24 March, 2015, Onudi further reaffirmed this position.
In the end, Onundi announced that KMTC had left the national joint admissions committee in charge of placing students in both colleges and universities.
“We will manage our admissions, and KUCCPS can handle theirs. Since our Act has not been repealed and no one has advised us not to admit, we will promote,” Onudi informed the media.
As admissions were delayed as a result of the altercations in April 2015, the Kenya Association of Technical Training Institutions (KATTI) intervened.
Edwin Tarno, the then-chairman of KATTI, claimed that admissions to KMTC had always been discriminatory and rewarded applicants who had access to money.
“Anyone can tell you how unfairly those admissions have been distributed if you ask them. Even students from Turkana were only admitted last year when KUCCPS handled placement,” according to Tarno.
Established in law
The Technical and Vocational Education and Training Act, as quoted by Tarno, states in Section 52: “Admission of students into technical and vocational education institutions shall be conducted by the Service established under the law relating to universities.”
The law stated by Onudi, according to him, has been replaced by the Universities Act of 2012 and the Tivet Act of 2012.
“All colleges and institutions are required by law to use KUCCPS to seat their students. They must comply unless KMTC is providing a separate qualification,” Tarno added.
The communication between KMTC and KUCCPS generated a dispute that also included representatives from the Health and Education Ministries.
In September 2014, the debate took place in Congress when representatives from the Ministry of Education testified before the Parliamentary Committee on Health.
The Ministry of Education was represented at the closed-door committee meeting by Basic Education PS Bellio Kipsang and Muraguri.
“We shall amend this law to expel the new agency because it is not within their mandate to place students in these colleges,” a member of parliament who was present at the meeting stated.
PS Kipsang minimized the tension caused by the MPs when he left the meeting by saying, “It was a normal ‘housekeeping business’.”
Direct interest
Sources with knowledge of the matter, however, later disclosed that several MPs had a direct interest in the colleges since they had formed agreements with the KMTCs.
“Some of them (MPs) agreed to construct KMTC campuses, and in exchange they would receive 30% of the available slots for the benefit of their people. However, as you can see, KUCCPS operates on the merit system and does not accept this kind of arrangement,” according to a Ministry of Education representative present at the MPs’ meeting.
After the then-Health Cabinet Secretary, James Macharia, supported the college’s decision the next year, in 2015, it seemed as though the future of KMTC student admissions was set.
Macharia claimed that KMTC has the authority to recruit students and promote. “There shouldn’t be any debate because KMTC is legally obligated to make the placement,” according to Macharia.
Nevertheless, KUCCPS proceeded to enroll 2,305 students in KMTC universities even as the argument over the selection procedure continued. KMTC nevertheless rejected the students.
David Mburu Mwangi and Anthony Thuita Mwai, two students, secured temporary orders from the High Court in Nakuru that forbade any fresh enrollment to the KMTCs during the standoff.
Legal action resulted from the medical college’s choice to reject students admitted via KUCCPS. The admissions were suspended by the High Court until the outcome of a case brought by KUCCPS was finalized.
The admissions were allegedly unlawful, according to KUCCPS, which filed a court motion and was represented by senior attorney Prof. Tom Ojienda. According to Ojienda, KUCCPS has the only authority to seat students in all colleges.
Justice Joseph Onguto declared in September 2015 that “the applicants are allowed to challenge the decision of KMTC to admit the students, and in the interim, an order of prohibition is issued, prohibiting KMTC from admitting any of the selected students.”
Attorney General Githu Muigai ordered that all applicants be accepted in October 2015.
Muigai further directed the withdrawal of all pending legal lawsuits and the pursuit of an administrative resolution to break the impasse between KUCCPS and KMTC.
The choice was made after a meeting that was attended by the management of KUCCPS and KMTC as well as Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi and Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia.
In order to push for the issue’s resolution, Joseph Kinyua, the head of the public service, called the meeting.
To make admissions easier, KMTC and the KUCCPS were instructed to align the two admittance lists. Students were still being placed and admitted by KMTC into various colleges.
Stalemate
However, when testifying before the House Education Committee in April 2016, Muraguri said that the impasse had not been broken.
This was taking place a long time after the important meeting between CSs Kaimenyi and Macharia, which the Head of Public Service interfered in.
“The situation is still open. We requested a judicial review, but before the issue could be decided, the Attorney General and Head of Public Service urged us to remove the matter from court,” according to Muraguri.
Muraguri informed the MPs that KUCCPS had been promised an internal solution to the impasse, however this information has not yet been released.
Julius Melly, who was the education committee’s vice chair at the time, said that the Universities Act modification will guarantee that only KUCCPS has the authority to assign students.
“After the modifications, we will protect and make sure that no other entity may place students in any colleges but KMTC,” Melly said. “KMTC is operating under some funny law,” she said.
Julius Melly, who was the education committee’s vice chair at the time, said that the Universities Act modification will guarantee that only KUCCPS has the authority to assign students.
After the modifications, we will protect and make sure that no other entity may place students in any colleges but KMTC, Melly said. “KMTC is operating under some funny law,” she said.
However, Muraguri asserted that there is a distinct distinction between student placement and admissions.
“Only KUCCPS shall place students who are sponsored by the government. The placed students are then admitted by institutions. Placement is KUCCPS’s main purpose. These students must be placed by KUCCPS as long as they are sponsored by the government,” according to Muraguri.
Pulled away
Julius Melly, who was the education committee’s vice chair at the time, said that the Universities Act modification will guarantee that only KUCCPS has the authority to assign students.
After the modifications, we will protect and make sure that no other entity may place students in any colleges but KMTC, Melly said. “KMTC is operating under some funny law,” she said.
However, Muraguri asserted that there is a distinct distinction between student placement and admissions.
“Only KUCCPS shall place students who are sponsored by the government. The placed students are then admitted by institutions. Placement is KUCCPS’s main purpose. These students must be placed by KUCCPS as long as they are sponsored by the government, according to Muraguri.
Eventually, KUCCPS withdrew from the KMTC student placement process.
When news of poor enrollment numbers reached the KMTCs in 2018, panic set in and the institutions’ management decided to begin a recruitment push to reverse the trend.
This occurred after the KUCCPS withdrew from the admissions process two years prior. College presidents have been instructed to persuade pupils and guardians to fill open positions with suitable applicants.
There are 65 KMTC institutions located all around the nation. The institutions can hold a combined total of around 8,000 students.