Nairobi, Wednesday: Former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Faith Odhiambo has sharply questioned President William Ruto’s latest pledge to fully fund higher education, warning that the proposal risks being reduced to a political promise rather than a sustainable policy.
Responding to the President’s Tuesday announcement that all students placed through KUCCPS would receive 100 per cent government funding, Odhiambo said the timing of the declaration raises legitimate concerns.
She argued that after years of complaints over a struggling funding model, Kenyans are justified in asking whether the move is driven by reform or electoral considerations.
“The promise that university will now be free for all sounds like progress,” she said, “but when it comes months to an election… Kenyans are entitled to ask, is this policy or politics?”
Odhiambo pointed to longstanding structural challenges in the higher education sector, noting that many public universities are already operating under financial strain.
She said institutions have been running deficits for years, while students continue to face exclusion or heavy loan burdens.
According to her, the recently introduced student-centred funding model has compounded inequalities by forcing families to choose courses based on affordability rather than merit.
At the same time, she noted, the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has struggled to meet demand, with current allocations only covering a fraction of first-year students.
The former LSK boss questioned how the government intends to finance universal funding without a clear legal and fiscal framework.
She warned that without transparency, the plan risks placing additional pressure on already overstretched public resources.
“If the State could not sustainably fund the existing model, how does it suddenly find resources to fully fund every KUCCPS-placed student?” she posed, calling for an “honest conversation” about trade-offs across sectors such as health, housing and social services.
Odhiambo further cautioned against what she termed as “dangling free rights as campaign bait,” arguing that constitutional governance requires full disclosure of costs and implications to taxpayers.
She said she stands with students, parents, lecturers and university workers calling for substantive reforms rather than last-minute announcements.
Among the measures she proposed are tabling detailed costings in Parliament, enacting a credible financing law, and ensuring safeguards to prevent the collapse of struggling institutions.
While acknowledging that free and quality university education remains a legitimate national goal, Odhiambo stressed that its implementation must be transparent and sustainable.
“Kenyans deserve more than applause lines,” she said. “They deserve a plan.”