Kenya’s Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) programme — one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious health-sciences degrees — may have been operating for years without valid accreditation under the current statutory framework.
That is the alarming possibility raised in a formal demand letter that the Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) dispatched on 10 June 2026 to Cabinet Secretary for Education Mr Julius Migos Ogamba.
It was copied to the Commission for University Education (CUE) Secretary/CEO Prof Mike Kuria and the Kenya Dental Association (KDA) President Dr Kahura Mundia.
COFEK’s six-page letter does not merely echo the KDA’s recent concerns about dental education standards.
It goes further — building a rigorous legal argument that the BDS programmes at the University of Nairobi (UoN) and Moi University may never have obtained formal CUE programme accreditation as required under the Universities (Amendment) Act, 2016.
The letter demands urgent remedial action and places the government on notice of imminent High Court proceedings if the Commission fails to act.
COFEK’s intervention was prompted by two developments arriving in quick succession.
The KDA issued a press statement raising concerns about university health programmes including the BDS, calling for regulatory clarity.
Almost simultaneously, on 28 May 2026, Hon. Justice W. Musyoka delivered judgment in HCJR/E067/2026 — Oral Health Association of Kenya v. Cabinet Secretary for Health & Another — at the Milimani High Court.
That judgment comprehensively affirmed that under Section 5A(2) of the Universities Act, 2012, the exclusive statutory mandate to recognise, license, approve and accredit all academic programmes offered at Kenyan universities belongs to CUE, and to no other person or body.
COFEK agrees with the KDA that an audit is warranted. However, COFEK’s position is more expansive: any audit must apply across the board to all university health programmes, including the BDS itself.
To confine scrutiny to selected programmes while exempting others would fall short of section 2(b) read with section 31 of the Universities (Amendment) Act, 2016.
The legal analysis in COFEK’s letter is precise and methodical.
Both UoN and Moi University received their first and only charters in 2013 — under Legal Notices 192 and 202 of 2013 respectively, commencing 16 August and 20 September 2013. Before those dates, both institutions existed solely as statutory corporations under Acts of Parliament, not as chartered universities.
The Universities (Amendment) Act, 2016, which commenced on 13 January 2017, introduced the current regime under which CUE holds exclusive programme accreditation authority.
Section 31 of that Act contains a transitional savings clause protecting programmes “previously approved or accredited by the senate of a university granted a charter or by the Commission prior to the coming into force of this Act.”
Here lies the critical legal problem COFEK has identified.
The savings clause expressly applies to “a university granted a charter.” Since UoN and Moi only received charters in August and September 2013, any senate approval of the BDS before those dates was made by a statutory corporation, not a chartered university.
Such approvals, COFEK argues, fall outside the literal scope of Section 31. The key forensic question is therefore whether UoN and Moi formally re-approved the BDS through their senates, or obtained CUE accreditation for it, in the narrow window between 2013 and 13 January 2017.
If they did not — if the BDS was simply carried forward on the assumption that pre-2013 approvals sufficed — then the Section 31 savings protection is unavailable, and the programmes should now undergo full CUE accreditation.
COFEK makes a striking observation about the KDA’s own stance. The KDA has been pressing concerns about the Mount Kenya University (MKU) BSc in Oral Health programme.
Yet by contrast, MKU’s programme was accredited by CUE in 2016 — after MKU received its charter and before the 2016 Amendment Act commenced — satisfying every element of the Section 31 savings clause. Its legal standing under the current framework is, as COFEK notes, unimpeachable, as confirmed by Justice Musyoka’s judgment.
The KDA’s position is therefore, in COFEK’s assessment, legally inverted: it defends the programmes most exposed to accreditation scrutiny — the BDS at UoN and Moi — while attacking the programme the law most clearly protects.
As COFEK states plainly in its letter: “The programme the KDA seeks to protect may be the one most legally exposed. The programme it seeks to impugn is the one the law most clearly protects.”
The consumer-protection dimension is direct and unavoidable. Students enrolled in programmes that lack valid accreditation are consumers whose rights under the Consumer Protection Act are engaged. COFEK’s standing to demand the audit is, accordingly, unassailable.
COFEK’s letter sets out a clear and time-bound set of demands. The Commission for University Education is required to:
Immediately commence a comprehensive accreditation audit of all university health-sciences programmes in Kenya that have not been formally accredited under the current Universities Act framework, with particular and express priority given to the BDS programmes at all Kenyan universities.
This audit must incorporate full stakeholder participation as contemplated under Section 5A(3) of the Universities Act, including input from professional associations, consumer groups (including COFEK), students, clinical educators and public-health experts, with participation documented and made publicly accessible.
Complete the audit and publish its findings within ninety (90) days of the letter — that is, by 9 September 2026.
Separately, within thirty (30) days, CUE must publish a publicly accessible consolidated register of all university academic programmes that have been formally accredited under the current framework, and identify those inherited from predecessor approvals that are pending formal review.
Confirm in writing to COFEK within fourteen (14) days the current accreditation status of the BDS at each university at which it is offered in Kenya, and the regulatory basis for its continued offering.
The letter issues an explicit legal notice. Should CUE fail, neglect or refuse to comply within the stipulated timelines, COFEK will, without further reference, institute appropriate proceedings in the High Court of Kenya.
The orders COFEK will seek include: a mandatory order compelling the Commission to carry out its statutory accreditation mandate in respect of the BDS and all other programmes not formally accredited.
Others are a declaration that the continued offering of BDS programmes without formal CUE accreditation is unlawful and constitutes a breach of the Universities Act; and constitutional damages in favour of consumer members of the public prejudiced by CUE’s failure to discharge its mandate; and any other orders the Court deems fit in the public interest.
COFEK grounds its position in the law as it stands, not as institutions wish it were. Section 5A(5) of the Universities Act is unambiguous: any person or body that, without CUE authority, purports to accredit, recognise, audit, inspect or index students commits a criminal offence punishable by a fine not exceeding two million shillings or imprisonment for up to two years, or both.
The Commission cannot fulfil its statutory mandate while leaving programmes of the vintage and prevalence of the BDS in a regulatory grey zone.
COFEK’s intervention is not anti-dental surgery. It is anti-impunity — directed at institutions and regulators who assume that age or prestige confers exemption from the law.
Students who invest years and significant financial resources in a BDS degree are entitled to know that their programme meets every current accreditation requirement. Patients who receive dental treatment from BDS graduates are entitled to know the same.
The Commission for University Education now has fourteen days to respond on accreditation status, thirty days to publish the programme register, and ninety days to complete the audit. The clock is running.
