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<p>According to official data from the Retirement Benefits Authority in Kenya, the country’s pension industry assets hit Sh1.2 trillion in September 2018 up from Sh1.08 trillion in December 2017 and Sh912.66 billion in 2016. With Enwealth&#8217;s recent estimation for increasing share of funds to reach $41.3trillion in the global pension funds and investment funds, CEO Simon Wafubwa, joins CNBC Africa to expound on the need for pension fund investment and development in Africa.</p>


Driving growth in Africa’s pension industry

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<p>With new risk-based pricing systems for loans on the horizon in Kenya, it’s becoming increasingly important for both consumers and financial institutions to understand how credit scores can help enable the right conversations.</p>


How your credit score impacts your daily decisions

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<p>The growth of small businesses in Africa is mostly hampered by lack of access to finance. However, factoring could be critical to addressing this as Olivia Zank, Founder and CEO of BeneFactors explains.</p>


How factoring can improve access to finance in Africa

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<p>Today, Rwanda through intellectual property administration agency joined the rest of the world to celebrate the World IP day under the theme &#8220;Reach for Gold: IP and Sports&#8221;. Joining CNBC Africa for more on the synergy and the legalities is Pius Ntazinda, Associate at Trust Law Chambers.</p>


Rwanda recognises intellectual property day

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<p>East African Business Council and Trade Mark East Africa have jointly launched a five year programme on Public-Private Sector Dialogue for Trade and Investment. The project aims to enhance advocacy and dialogue on trade facilitation in order for businesses to grow and expand within and beyond the region. Peter Mathuki, Executive Director and CEO, East African Business Council joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


EAC, Trade Mark East Africa launch public-private sector programme to strengthen trade

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<p>As South Sudan concluded its series of investment roadshows, the last stop was South Africa. CNBC Africa’s Lubabalo Mashiqana caught up with Taban James, CEO, Stanbic Bank &#8211; a bank that has been at the war-zoned country for seven years about the ease of doing business under those difficult conditions.</p>


Stanbic Bank CEO Taban James on doing business in South Sudan

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<p>Access to books and other learning materials remains a big hurdle to provision of quality education in Africa. Schoolap is a platform that is helping improve quality of education by easing access to content in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Co-founder, Pascal Kanik spoke to CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Platform seeks to streamline education in DRC

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<p>Everyone is fighting for investments, so why should you invest in South Sudan, since its birth in 2011 the country has suffered with political turmoil and economic stagnation.</p>


Minister Gabriel Thokuj Deng on mining business opportunities in South Sudan

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<p>April 1994, 25 years ago, my next guest and author of Moi, Le Dernier Tutsi which loosely translates as Me, the last Tutsi, was only 12 years old when his family was ferociously exterminated with him left to tell. Charles Habonimana joins CNBC Africa ahead of the much anticipated book launch for a look into his life story.</p>


In conversation with the author of Moi, Le Dernier Tutsi, Charles Habonimana

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<p>South Sudan Investment Authority Secretary General Dr. Abraham Maliet Mamer spoke to CNBC Africa about a wide range of investment opportunities in that country.</p>


Abraham Maliet Mamer on what makes South Sudan attractive to investors

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<p>Zipline, a robotic firm that launched medical drone delivery service in Rwanda to ensure fast and reliable access to medical products, will today officially launch it first distribution centre in Ghana. Joining CNBC Africa for more is Israel Bimpe, Head of National Implementation, Zipline.</p>


Rwanda’s Zipline launches in Ghana

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<p>It seems every day we hear about a new mobile solution promising to simplify and enhance the lives of users. There&#8217;s no doubt that the region and continent at large has been benefiting from having the world at their fingertips but a recent report has taken it a step further by proclaiming that Tanzania is experiencing a full-blown &#8216;digital transformation&#8217;. Kenechi Okeleke, Lead Analyst at GSMA Intelligence joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


This is how the mobile industry is shaping Tanzania’s development

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<p>A court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has annulled a three-year prison sentence against the former governor of the DRC&#8217;s copper-mining Katanga region Moise Katumbi, in a move that could enable him to return home from exile in Belgium. CNBC Africa is joined by Soraya Aziz Souleyman, Business and Human Rights Defender to tell us exactly what this means to Moise Katumbi and the D.R.Congo.</p>


DRC: Moise Katumbi sentence overturned


<p>NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; The Kenyan shilling weakened slightly against the dollar on Tuesday, driven by demand from the energy sector and merchant importers as trading resumed from Easter holiday, traders said. At 0945 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 101.45/65 per dollar, compared with 101.35/55 at Thursday’s close.</p>



<p>Reporting by John Ndiso; Editing by Hereward Holland </p>


Kenya’s shilling weakens slightly against the dollar, here’s why

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<p>Last week it was announced that an American law firm specialised in aviation law, together with two Nairobi based firms and others, would be filing federal wrongful death lawsuits against the Boeing Company for the Kenyan lives lost in the tragic crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 on the 10th of March. The suits were filed in the US District court in Chicago. Chege Njoroge, from Lesinko, Njoroge and Gathogo Advocates joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


American firm sues Boeing on behalf of Kenyan lives lost

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<p>Beginning next month, Kenyan employees will pay 1.5 per cent of their salary to fund the government’s project to build 500,000 affordable homes by 2022. The housing fund levy which is part of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big 4 agenda was largely met with backlash from the public. Johnson Denge, Senior Manager &#038; Regional Markets at Cytonn Investments joins CNBC Africa to discuss this.</p>


Uproar over Kenya’s 1.5% housing levy

By <span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ishmael-munene-205098">Ishmael Munene</a>, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/northern-arizona-university-764">Northern Arizona University</a></em></span>

<p>Vice-chancellors of Kenya’s 33 public universities are demanding a three-fold <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190304130216137">tuition fee increase</a>. They <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190304130216137">point out</a> that the proposed fee increase will merely meet the actual cost of providing university education. </p>

<p>Set 30 years ago, the current fee structure applies to all degree programmes irrespective of actual instructional cost. Over <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001231157/report-quality-of-kenyan-graduates-from-public-universities-wanting">49,000 students graduate</a> from public universities annually.</p>

<p>The proposed increase is a reflection of the changing landscape in financing university education in Kenya. The once financially healthy universities are in financial straits, putting in doubt their long-term sustainability.</p>

<p>Most public universities are unable to meet basic operating expenses such as salaries, pensions, health care, and maintenance of plant and equipment. The flagship University of Nairobi, for instance, has a debt of 1.6 billion Kenya shillings (US$16 million) in <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190213104207905">unpaid pensions and other statutory contributions</a>. The total <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2019.97.10789">debt</a> of the 33 public institutions is around 110 billion Kenya shillings (US$1.10 billion). That’s equivalent to the state’s budgetary allocation over one  year. The <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20181129132142395">government spends</a> around 27% of its budget on education. Universities get around 100.3 billion (US$1.03 billion) compared to 200 billion (US$ 2 billion) for basic education. </p>

<p>To manage the debt burden, universities have <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/news/education/Amina-asks-varsities-to-lay-off-staff-in-cost-cutting-bid/2643604-4736934-78f8gwz/index.html">come under pressure to downsize</a> their bloated non-essential staff. They have also introduced a range of <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20180824074737190">austerity measures</a>. The effect has been a decline in morale.</p>

<p>A tuition increase will provide much needed revenue to stabilise university finances. Universities are likely to use the extra funds in a number of ways. These could include improving the morale of both academic and administrative staff, improving the quality of instruction and better maintenance of plant and equipment.</p>

<p>But the proposed tuition increase comes with risks. A one-size-fits all raise fails to take into account the cost differential of various degree programmes. Medical, engineering and construction programmes, for instance, cost more than humanities and social sciences. Tuition fees should reflect these differences. If they don’t, under-investment in costly programmes will continue.  </p>

<p>In addition, the tuition increase shouldn’t happen in isolation. It should be matched with a commitment by the government to restore university funding to previous levels. This will ensure that a bigger burden of financing universities doesn’t fall on students. </p>

<h2>Diminishing revenue</h2>

<p>The gloomy financial picture contrasts sharply with the healthy financial position that public universities enjoyed a decade ago. Then, universities had balanced budgets and even surpluses. </p>

<p>In 2011, for instance, total revenues earned by universities through tuition fees, programme fees and other income generating activities slightly exceeded government funding. </p>

<p>From 2010 to 2011 <a href="https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/corporate/Public-universities-revenues-hit-record-level/539550-1190922-nvump5/index.html">revenue growth</a> in the five top public universities ranged from 2% – 21%. </p>

<p>There were a number of reasons <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2019.97.10789">for the financial crisis</a>. These included diminishing revenue from privately-sponsored students who were a source much needed tuition revenues. Privately-sponsored students who did not attain the required high school graduation points to be awarded government scholarships. So they pay the full tuition in public universities. </p>

<p>The other reasons included declining government funding, closure of satellite campuses, and more stringent supervision of high school examinations that has reduced the number of university applicants and, therefore, fewer university enrolments. </p>

<p>In addition, poor financial management, and universities inability to develop robust income generating activities, and overall growth of the university institutions relative to demand have compromised university finances. </p>

<p>The fee increase <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/news/education/VCs-want-student-fees-increased-/2643604-4995414-10xygjp/index.html">proposal</a> doesn’t come close to covering the actual cost of a basic non-science degree. And universities argue that the fees aren’t enough meet the increasing costs of providing quality education and running the institutions.</p>

<h2>Opportunity for reform</h2>

<p>I believe that by simply introducing a blanket tuition increase without addressing the problems ailing the public university sector, the government is missing a golden opportunity for much deeper reform.</p>

<p>Increasing tuition fees without consolidation of the public university sector is throwing good money after bad. The government should face the fact that a good number of public universities were established to give the government political legitimacy because they were <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057%2Fhep.2012.18">established for political expediency</a> in 2012-2013. Quite a few operate under capacity.</p>

<p>In addition, the proposed tuition rate increase was arrived at without broad  consultations with key stakeholders. The whole process has been administrator-driven. As a result, students have <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/news/education/University-students-threaten-to-hold-demos-over-fees-/2643604-4998644-lq4i2gz/index.html">threatened</a> to go on strike while academics have <a href="http://dailyactive.info/index.php/2019/03/05/lecturers-reject-vice-chancellors-plea-to-increase-university-fee/">called for a review</a>.  </p>

<p>Another problem is that the vice-chancellors’ fee increase proposal comes with no safeguards to mitigate its effects on poor students. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds experience difficulties even with the current fee structure. Without a clear specification of financial aid programmes for vulnerable students, the fee proposal will only make a bad situation worse.</p>

<p>Any tuition fee increase needs to be undertaken in the wider context of reforming the financing of university education in Kenya. A knee jerk policy like the one proposed by the vice-chancellors leaves too many policy challenges unresolved.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115149/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" /></p>

<p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ishmael-munene-205098">Ishmael Munene</a>, Professor of Research, Foundations &#038; Higher Education, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/northern-arizona-university-764">Northern Arizona University</a></em></span></p>

<p>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenyas-universities-need-deep-reform-not-just-a-hike-in-fees-115149">original article</a>.</p>

Kenya

Driving growth in Africa’s pension industry

How your credit score impacts your daily decisions

How factoring can improve access to finance in Africa

Rwanda recognises intellectual property day

EAC, Trade Mark East Africa launch public-private sector programme to strengthen trade

Stanbic Bank CEO Taban James on doing business in South Sudan

Platform seeks to streamline education in DRC

Minister Gabriel Thokuj Deng on mining business opportunities in South Sudan

In conversation with the author of Moi, Le Dernier Tutsi, Charles Habonimana

Abraham Maliet Mamer on what makes South Sudan attractive to investors

Rwanda’s Zipline launches in Ghana

This is how the mobile industry is shaping Tanzania’s development

DRC: Moise Katumbi sentence overturned

Kenya’s shilling weakens slightly against the dollar, here’s why

American firm sues Boeing on behalf of Kenyan lives lost

Uproar over Kenya’s 1.5% housing levy

Why universities in this East African country are in need of deep reform

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Kenya

Driving growth in Africa’s pension industry

How your credit score impacts your daily decisions

How factoring can improve access to finance in Africa

Rwanda recognises intellectual property day

EAC, Trade Mark East Africa launch public-private sector programme to strengthen trade

Stanbic Bank CEO Taban James on doing business in South Sudan

Platform seeks to streamline education in DRC

Minister Gabriel Thokuj Deng on mining business opportunities in South Sudan

In conversation with the author of Moi, Le Dernier Tutsi, Charles Habonimana

Abraham Maliet Mamer on what makes South Sudan attractive to investors

Rwanda’s Zipline launches in Ghana

This is how the mobile industry is shaping Tanzania’s development

DRC: Moise Katumbi sentence overturned

Kenya’s shilling weakens slightly against the dollar, here’s why

American firm sues Boeing on behalf of Kenyan lives lost

Uproar over Kenya’s 1.5% housing levy

Why universities in this East African country are in need of deep reform

News Tips

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