Nairobi, March 11 -- Public universities cumulatively owe statutory bodies and other creditors a total of Sh75 billion in pending bills, a figure which has doubled in a span of two years and continues to attract huge interest, putting their operations at risk.

The revelation comes at a time when the government is transitioning to a new funding model that appears headed for the headwinds, less than a year after it was unveiled due to delays in disbursing funds to the cash-strapped universities.

The institutions still expect to receive Sh11.9 billion from the exchequer for students in their first year of study. Only Sh7.97 billion had been received by the Universities Fund (UF) by last week.

The CEO of the UF said that public universitie...