Lawyer Apollo Mboya for 36 students earlier expelled from Chuka University.
BY THOMAS KARIUKI.
The High Court has gone against a university, reinstating 36 students earlier expelled from Chuka University.
The court says that they should be allowed to return to school and continue with their studies.
Justice Weldon Korir, said the decision to expel the students was unlawful, saying that the students ought to have been given an opportunity to defend themselves.
The court had allowed the students to challenge their expulsion following violent unrest stemming from chaotic elections held on January 29.
They were aggrieved by the decision made by Chuka University Senate on April 15 to send them home after the university administration conducted disciplinary hearings between March 21 and 24.
“The decision by the university and the Senate to expel the students was malicious, unlawful, oppressive and in total breach of natural justice and the rules and regulations of the university,” the complainants, through lawyer Apollo Mboya, told the court
Mr Mboya said the university disciplinary committee that recommended the expulsion was not fully and properly constituted and did not accord the students fair administrative action. Further, he claimed the expulsion had disrupted the academic life of the students, who missed crucial lectures and final examinations.
However, lawyer Mboya confirmed that the State, on April 13, terminated another criminal case against 18 students who had been charged before a Chuka Magistrate’s court with taking part in an unlawful assembly.
Kennedy Omondi Waringa, who vied for the chairmanship of the Chuka University Students Association (CUSA) during the elections, claimed his supporters were punished with expulsion after holding a demonstration to protest the glaring irregularities that marred the polls.
“The constitutional rights of the students will be violated and the ends of justice will be defeated if they are not allowed to continue with their education,” he said in a sworn statement.
The students are also seeking orders compelling the university administration to organize and administer special lectures to all First to Fourth Year under-graduate students who missed classes during the unrest. They want all pending disciplinary appeals heard and determined expeditiously.
