Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) has been closed indefinitely following students unrest.
The closure was announced by the university’s Senate on Wednesday, September 18th 2019, in an internal memo to students and staff.
The students were ordered to vacate the university premises with immediate effect by 2 pm on Wednesday. The decision to close the institution came after students staged ‘peaceful’ protests on the university grounds earlier that day.
The memo read in part: “The University Special Senate meeting held today the 18th September 2019, has resolved to close the University with immediate effect because of the students’ unrest.”
CLOSURE OF THE UNIVERSITY pic.twitter.com/98HfjoqpE7
— Masinde Muliro Univ. (@MMUST_Kenya) September 18, 2019
The students were protesting the administration’s alleged requirement that all students had to clear their fees arrears before sitting their examinations.
Other grievances by the students were Internet outages in the university, harassment of students in the finance department, and the violation of the students’ organisation constitution by the university administration.
The university’s student organisation had apparently obtained a permit to conduct peaceful protests on the university grounds.
The situation, however, quickly got out of hand. According to videos posted on social media, a crowd of students can be seen running away from what appears to be law enforcement officers.
