On January 28 this week, Magistrate Ojoo from the Kibera Law Courts ruled that Mr. Samuel Nderitu Wakanyua, the Dean of Students at Catholic University of East Africa, has a case to answer based on prima facie evidence.
The Dean assaulted Dr. Rosa Ko, a senior lecturer at CUEA at the time, during an exam invigilation meeting in October 2018 after she informed Mr. Wakanyua that she would not approve draft examination questions unless her concerns were addressed.
Dr. Ko also questioned the manner in which the lecturers were hired since they did not meet the required qualifications and added that some of the instructors were her former students who had not completed their masters’ program.
Following the incident, CUEA’s Vice-Chancellor Very Rev. Prof. Stephen Mbugua invoked an internal investigation into the assault though the results were not made public. Similarly, the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in East Africa (AMECEA), which owns CUEA and appoints senior staff at the university, conducted an external review of the incident though again the findings were kept confidential. It is unknown if CUEA or AMECEA ever reprimanded Mr. Wakanyua for his conduct.
What is known, however, is that Mr. Wakanyua was promoted even though he was criminally charged in October 2018. Before the assault, Mr. Wakanyua was the Acting Dean of Students with effect from 6 August 2018. According to CUEA’s website, Mr. Wakanyua is currently the Dean of Students, a promotion that can only be made by Vice Chancellor Mbugua.
The criminal case has been scheduled for defense hearing on March 24 where Mr. Wakanyua is at liberty to call witnesses to his defense.
