Ruto awards Kamagambo University Letter of Interim Authority

President William Ruto has granted Kamagambo University in Migori County a Letter of Interim Authority, granting it the opportunity to offer higher education and train professionals to propel Kenya's transformation. Addressing the occasion in Kisumu, the President emphasized the university's responsibility to maintain academic integrity, sound governance and quality education while working towards obtaining a full Charter.

To enhance access to higher education, the government is reforming student placement and financing through the Tertiary Education, Placement and Funding Bill, 2026. Upon its enactment, every qualified student will have the chance to pursue higher education irrespective of their background. Ruto affirmed that a nation's leap to prosperity is achieved through innovation and invention in laboratories, lecture halls, and libraries, where knowledge is transformed into progress.

Universities are not only responsible for developing talent, strengthening institutions, and producing research, but they also solve problems and generate ideas that lead to the creation of new industries. The President highlighted that universities play an essential role in preparing the minds that will build the future the nation envisions.

Granting the Letter of Interim Authority, the President instructed Kamagambo University to establish governing organs, develop academic resources, and, after obtaining approval from the Commission of University Education, admit students to its programs. This interim status signifies that the university has crossed a milestone, but it remains a long way from reaching its destination.

The President underscored that the trust shown today must be earned daily through academic integrity, sound governance, prudent stewardship, and uncompromising quality.

Kamagambo is the third private university established by the Adventist Church, following the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton in Nandi County and the Adventist University of Africa in Ongata Rongai, Kajiado. The President noted that education and training institutions must produce graduates with competence, conduct relevant research, and provide solutions to societal challenges.

The President emphasized that universities should not only prepare young people for job competition but also inspire them to create enterprises and transform entire sectors. He stressed that a country that continually imports knowledge also imports solutions, and Kenya must become a nation that produces, applies, and exports knowledge.

To achieve this, the President said universities, industry, and government must form a new compact, with employers helping shape relevant curricula and universities exposing students to real workplaces and problems, while government creates conditions for research to become technology, technology to become enterprise, and enterprise to become employment.

Education Cabinet Secretary Migos Ogamba highlighted that the government aims not only to increase the number of higher education institutions but to build a highly competitive system producing quality professionals who contribute to the country's development. Prof James Onyango Owino, Chair of the Commission for University Education, said the commission's role will not stop at licensing but will extend to monitoring, guiding, advising, and supporting the institution's development to safeguard the interests of students, parents, staff, the community, and the nation.