Kenya Utalii College Hotel Campuses Shut Down Following Bankruptcy

Government-sponsored Kenya Utalii College and its satellite campuses in Kisumu and Mombasa has shut down following lack of funds to run its own operations according to the college officials.

The closure of Utalii College campuses was made public in a circular sent on Monday by the Principal Secretary Tourism and Wildlife Safina Kwekwe to the Utalii College, and hotel Chief Executive Hashim Mohammed.

The memo from the Ministry of Tourism has directed the Utalii CEO to shut down operations and ensure residents vacate in Utalii campuses in Mombasa and Nairobi.

“The college has been closed until such a time that its board, management, and the ministry develop a sustainable and profitable operational plan,” PS Safina has said.

The circular notes that the ministry of Tourism and the top governing body of the college held a meeting on how to transform the institution during which it was noted that it could no longer generate revenue and is believed to be then that the decision to shut the campuses was reached.

“Operating the satellite campuses is expensive yet the college does not have enough students,” the circular continued to read.

Utalii college had already received applications for the September 2020 intake. It was ordered to complete its programmes online following the COVID-19 outbreak in Kenya.

The Kenya Utalii College has been struggling for some time and required the government to come to its aid in 2017 after the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala asked the government to help a3 billion shillings loan taken by the hotel.

Currently, Utalii college campuses are shut down following the government’s directive to turn the institution to quarantine centres temporarily to enable the government to fight the spread of COVID-19.