A simmering power struggle over who controls admissions and funding at Kenya Medical Training College has once again drawn sharp attention in Parliament, with lawmakers demanding swift legislative action to restore order and protect the country’s health training system.
For nearly ten years, uncertainty over mandates between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education has cast a shadow over the college’s operations. Members of the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Health warned that the prolonged stalemate is disrupting admissions, weakening planning and affecting the supply of trained health workers.
The matter came up as Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale appeared before the committee during discussions on the 2026 Budget Policy Statement. Legislators said the overlapping roles between the two ministries had created a cycle of delays and mixed signals that continue to hurt the institution.
Committee chair James Nyikal said the country must settle the question of responsibility once and for all.
“We can’t keep moving back and forth as a country. The question is simple: who carries the function and who carries the money?” Nyikal posed.
Currently, student placement into KMTC is undertaken by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service under the Education Ministry. At the same time, the Health Ministry, through the State Department for Public Health and Professional Standards, oversees admissions and management of the institutions.
According to Nyikal, this split arrangement has bred confusion and slowed key decisions affecting both learners and the broader health sector.
“In your office, Honourable CS, there is an advisory letter indicating that KMTC should admit students. That advice followed a formal inquiry to the Attorney General,” Nyikal said.
“It is now for you to execute at the Cabinet level what is already lawful, unless the law is changed.”
He stressed that acting on the advisory would not amount to altering policy but implementing what is already considered lawful. The committee, he added, had previously engaged the Education Ministry and reached a shared position on the matter.
“Without clear legal and financial alignment, disputes over control will persist, undermining the training of health professionals at a time when the country faces staffing shortages,” Nyikal said.
Duale acknowledged the sensitivity of the issue, calling it a “hot potato” that cannot be handled by one office alone.
“This matter has been there for about 10 years. If you want me to touch this hot potato, we must share it. Unless Parliament changes the law, what the courts are doing is legal, and it will not just disappear,” he said.
The CS said he would seek formal guidance from the Attorney General and circulate it to the Education Ministry and the Head of Public Service, while also engaging Parliament to chart a lasting solution.
“The people who change the law are you. If you say we will change it, then we will align accordingly. Until then, we must operate within the law,” he told MPs.
He disclosed that discussions with his counterpart in Education were ongoing to find a workable structure for managing health training institutions.
“There is no way the entire training of the health sector can be run by the Ministry of Education alone. They own the institutions, yes, but we own the curriculum and the health ecosystem. There must be a link,” he said.
Duale also warned that allowing profit motives to shape medical education could erode standards and damage the country’s global standing.
The committee further turned its attention to the training and welfare of medical registrars in public referral hospitals. Nyikal reminded the ministry that Parliament had earlier resolved that registrar intake must be guided by approved training slots tied to national needs.
“Registrars must be admitted according to the needs of the facility and the country. We create training positions at Kenyatta, at Moi and in other referral hospitals. When they finish, they leave and are replaced. The positions rotate. That is the only fair system,” he said.
He rejected proposals that would make the ability to pay a basis for access to public training institutions.
“Once you create a policy that favours money in a public institution, you create an imbalance against those who cannot afford. We rejected that principle before, and we must reject it again,” he said.
Nyikal also pressed the ministry to set aside a dedicated budget for registrar training positions to prevent exploitation.
“I don’t want to hear about a registrar working 24 or 48 hours and not being paid. That is wrong. It is a human rights issue. If they work as they train, that work must be paid for,” he said.
Guyo Jaldesa supported the collegiate training approach, saying it was introduced to tackle the shortage of specialists in counties.
“When we started the collegiate system, it was to address specialist gaps. Doctors train while working. For the years they are in training, they are offering services. Previously, the Ministry paid their salaries and fees. Now that is no longer happening, and that is questionable,” he said.
With both KMTC governance and registrar training under scrutiny, MPs maintained that only firm legal direction and clear budget support would end the cycle of disputes and safeguard the country’s health training framework.
