Public universities have asked the Ministry of Education to negotiate with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for a waiver of penalties and interest on years of unpaid statutory deductions, blaming chronic underfunding for a debt that has grown to Sh33.3 billion.

The request emerged before the National Assembly's Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education, chaired by Luanda MP Dick Maungu, where University of Nairobi (UoN) Vice-Chancellor Prof Ayub Gitau and Kenyatta University (KU) Vice-Chancellor Prof John Okumu appeared over audit queries, the Daily Nation reported on Monday.

Deducted but not remitted

The universities say they have continued to pay staff their net salaries while failing to pass on deductions such as PAYE, pension contributions and other statutory dues, because government funding has not kept pace with their wage bills.

According to figures before the committee:

  • Unremitted statutory deductions across public universities stood at Sh33.3 billion as of 31 January 2026.
  • UoN has the highest statutory arrears at Sh8.8 billion, followed by Kenyatta University at Sh5.2 billion and Moi University at Sh4.7 billion, based on data previously tabled in Parliament.
  • Pending bills across the sector rose by 17.6 per cent to Sh100.3 billion in the eight months to January 2026.

Prof Okumu told MPs that KU had entered into payment plans with KRA but kept defaulting because the money was not enough. He said the universities had approached the ministry together because the problem cuts across the sector, but nothing had come of the request so far. Maungu noted that some of the obligations date back almost 20 years.

Penalties pile up

Kilome MP Thaddeus Nzambia pressed UoN on whether it had sought a waiver of KRA penalties and how much was involved. During the same sitting, as reported by The Star, a committee official warned that unremitted PAYE running into billions could attract penalties and interest worth "billions of shillings" on top of the principal.

The committee has separately given UoN two weeks to produce records on a pension deficit that has grown to more than Sh10 billion. Prof Gitau told MPs the university had resumed remitting pension deductions in recent months and was paying retiring staff, and that it was valuing its assets as a possible source of revenue.

Not the first plea

The idea of a waiver is not new. Treasury floated writing off accrued tax on universities' unremitted deductions in 2020, and later Education ministers proposed similar relief, but no write-off has been effected. There has been no public response from KRA or the ministry to the latest request.

The appeal comes days after the Government agreed to a Sh20 billion pay deal with university unions, which will add to the institutions' wage obligations over the next three years.

Photos: Kenyans.co.ke / University of Nairobi (UoN main campus); Citizen Digital (Prof John Okumu). Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.