Court of Appeal overturns ruling suspending Ruto’s university funding model

The Court of Appeal has stopped the enforcement of the High Court's ruling that had blocked President William Ruto's new higher education funding model.

The High Court had, on December 20, 2024, stopped the Ministry of Education, the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) and all public universities and colleges from implementing the contested model.

The government, through the Attorney General, appealed the judgment and sought its suspension pending the hearing and determination of the appeal, prompting the Court of Appeal to stay the judgment of the lower court.

However, the Court of Appeal directed the government agencies to notify the stakeholders of the possibility of changes in the course of the hearings of the appeal.

"The AG, HELB and the KUCCPS are directed to publicise within the next 14 days, the framework for the new funding model to, all universities; current university students; incoming university students; applicants intending to join in the next placement cycle," directed the appellate court.

"The Attorney General, HELB, and KUCCPS shall further inform students currently under the new funding model and fresh applicants that the funding model may be subject to change at any time pending the final determination of the appeal.”

Kenya Human Rights Commission and Elimu Mbora Working Group, among others, had sued to stop the implementation of the controversial model and asked the court to suspend the rollout until the suit is heard and determined.

Justice Chacha Mwita later stopped the rollout of the financing model by HELB and KUCCPS.

The institutions had been sued as respondents in the petition by human rights defenders who wanted the new model stopped.

The activists say that the presidential directive that instituted the funding model is an illegality, unconstitutional and an attempt to usurp Parliament's law-making role.

They argued that the model was hurriedly implemented without consultation and legislative sanction since HELB and the Universities Fund were already legally mandated to oversee higher education funding.

They say these institutions were mandated to follow the Maximum Differentiated Unit Cost model established under the Universities' Act of 2012.

"These provisions have not been repealed and yet have been ignored, circumvented or abandoned," the activist groups say.

The Variable Scholarship and Loan Funding (VSLF) model, or the New Higher Education Funding Model, was recommended by a Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms in 2022 and adopted last year.

KHRC and others say the adoption of the model violates several fundamental constitutional tenets, including a breach of fundamental rights and freedoms.

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They also argue that the operationalisation of the proposed model based on a presidential directive without legal sanction or framework is unconstitutional, and Justice Mwita agreed with them.

The activists say the model is lacking compliance with public fiscal responsibility principles and fails the public interest test by failing to meet the legitimate expectations of students joining universities and other institutions of higher learning.