Professor Charles Chunge v Masinde Muliro University of Science & Technology
The bottom line
#Kenya's Court of Appeal confirmed that a university professorship cannot be granted by a title in a letter—you must prove the required academic qualifications.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the salutation 'Dear Prof Chunge' in the letter of offer conferred the position of professor on the appellant
The reference to 'Professor' in the offer letter was an error that did not confer the position; correcting it in the letter of 10th March 2017 did not vary the terms of employment.
The letter of offer was for appointment as Executive Dean, School of Medicine, with no reference in its body to appointment as professor. The advertisement made professorial appointment conditional on qualification. Appointment as professor requires demonstrated qualifications under the CUE Harmonised Criteria and Guidelines, and cannot arise by implication from a salutation. The Ad Hoc Committee found the appellant unqualified, so the 2017 letter merely corrected an error rather than stripping a title.
Whether the trial judge erred in determining the appellant's qualifications, thereby 'rewriting' the contract
The court did not rewrite the contract; it was for the appellant to show he held the requisite qualifications in 2015, which he failed to do.
The appellant did not lay any evidential foundation of the qualifications required for a professorship in 2015, nor claim before the trial court that he had them at interview. An Ad Hoc Committee set up to review him found he did not qualify. The court cannot confer a professorship on an unqualified academic; the respondent's advice to tender candidature for professor/associate professor was not taken up.
The standard of interference by a first appellate court with the trial court's findings of fact
The Court of Appeal, as a first appellate court, must reconsider and evaluate the evidence but interfere with findings of fact only on the established grounds.
Relying on Kenya Ports Authority v Kuston Kenya Limited and Mwanasokoni v Kenya Bus Limited, the Court restated that a first appellate court reconsiders the evidence and draws its own conclusions, while bearing in mind it neither saw nor heard the witnesses, and interferes with findings of fact only where they rest on no evidence, misapprehension of evidence, or wrong principles. Finding no such defect, it declined to depart from the trial court's findings.
Legal principles established
#- Appointment as a university professor cannot be conferred by implication or by a mere salutation in an offer letter; the candidate must demonstrate the prescribed qualifications.
- A court of law cannot confer the position of professor on an academic who does not meet the prescribed criteria and guidelines.
- A first appellate court must reconsider and evaluate the evidence afresh, interfering with findings of fact only where the decision is based on no evidence, misapprehension of the evidence, or wrong principles.
Court orders
#- 1.The appeal is dismissed with costs to the respondent
- On appeal from
- Employment and Labour Relations Court, Kisumu
- Jurisdiction invoked
- First appellate jurisdiction (appeal from the Employment and Labour Relations Court); specific constitutional or statutory provision not cited in the judgment
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Professor Charles Chunge v Masinde Muliro University of Science & Technology", Case Analysis (2025). Appeal from ELRC Kisumu (case number not stated in judgment). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keca/2025/1770/eng@2025-10-24
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.