The Merger of Universities.

Dennis Enzoveri.


Interviewer: what is your name?
Guest: my name is Bob shikuku, am the sitting president of multimedia university of kenya.
Interviewer: What is your opinion about merging of universities?
Guest: first of all, I would officially want to dismiss any attempt to merge universities, this could the most shambolic effort made by government to run away from management of the highest institutions of this country. The idea of merging universities is very barbaric and this is why, where are this people who are employed supposed to go to and for instance if you had a brother and your brother passes away and leaves you a debt of ten billion Kenyan shillings who are your supposed to pay that debt? So merging universities because they have debts, I don’t think will solve any problem and in fact will result to deeper problems and which I don’t know who will come up with the solution.
Interviewer: so now if universities were to be merged, do you think the running of universities will be as effective as it now?
Guest: not really, that is like saying all counties to be merged and have one governor, what do you think will happen if? If there is a problem in one end of the country, how is this governor expected solve problems which come from all over, merging universities is an idea which is not supported and should die even before it bears any fruits.
Interviewer: are you satisfied with the current running of universities like the funding by the government, do you really support what the government is doing right now?
Guest: the government of Kenya is very mediocre, how can it cut the budget of higher institution so that it can support TVETS? I don’t think that that is a good idea, I don’t oppose the idea of supporting TVETS but it should not come at cost of funding public universities because all the professors, all the doctors, all the industries, all the machines, all the buildings that we have depends on engineers, doctors and engineers and all this people come from public universities so if you cut the funding, you make the quality of education very poor and if you get poor education you also get very poor results and that is why you will still find that our MPs are going to seek medication abroad because they don’t trust our own doctors since they have cut the funding to the universities.
Interviewer: if universities were to be merged, do you think the current political running of universities will be on stake?
Guest: in one way or another it will be sabotaging democracy because everyone in this country needs representation. Being a president of multimedia university I represent my students and they have different interests from student schooling in other universities and students from multimedia university elected me to represent their specific interests. If multimedia university was to me merged by for example Moi university, how are the politics expected to represent the same interests? That is not possible.
Interviewer: do you now think that your position is at stake?
Guest: I don’t think that my position is at stake, this is because, first of all, I don’t think that universities can be merged since it is a mediocre idea and it is unfortunate that it came from a professor Mangoha but it is just a dream.
Interviewer: thank you very much for having us. That was an interview with Bob shikuku, the president of multimedia university of Kenya.

Transport Upheavals.

Job Simiyu.

Simiyu: Kindly tell us what you do for a Living.
Ahmed: Ok am a driver, I’ve been a driver and tout at the same time, that has been for five years, different routes, but currently am in Rongai.
Simiyu: What challenges do you go through?
Ahmed: The challenges we go through are based/ caused by police officers, from the senior officers to the ones in a lower rank. As you operate, there’s clearly a system that’s in place, and you have to comply to that system, irregardless of you complying to the system, you’ll find that you’ll still get disturbances from the police officers.
Simiyu: Do you mind telling us a little more about the main Challenge?
Ahmed: The police officers being the major challenge we face in the country, the bribing that happens on the roads, has a great impact on how we work. The amount the highest officer, say the O.C.P.D gets is not the same to the amount of the Corporal, and most of the operations on the roads are planned, in that on a specific day, a certain officer on a higher rank, is the one who has the day. So as per the day, you’ll have to comply failure to which you might end up in court. Depending on the points they’ll be situated, on a routine, they’ll collect what they need.
Simiyu: Is/Could there be a solution to this problem?
Ahmed: It being a system that’s deeply rooted in this scheme for a long time, and a lot of uncouth business happening, it’s hard to change, as the whole system from the high officers to the lower ones are all corrupt, so it’s a hard thing to change.

Merging of Public Universities.

The ministry of education under the leadership of cabinet secretary professor George Magoha has proposed the merging of public universities. This proposal has met critics as most university stakeholders thinks that it will have some negative impacts on their side. Campus politics is one of the most affected areas that are anticipated to be scolded. The ministry of education on the other hand have incessantly emphasized that the proposal is meant to achieve a hundred percent transformation from high school to university. Under the proposal the government is expected to save massive funds and improve the quality of education by scrapping some courses which have a low demand in the market.

The major reforms that the ministry has proposed have been endorsed by a proportion of the public and on the other hand been criticized by others. Campus politics will be shanked in a way that democracy of students will be limited, power will be concerted on few students who are lucky to win the topmost positions in student leadership. The secretary general of universities academic staff union multimedia university, Mr. Onesmus Mutio have condemned the proposal by the ministry of education saying that they were never consulted about it.


The proposed merger will also affect the influence of national politicians on campus politics. Since there have been dominance of national politicians influencing campus politics by sponsoring student leaders who are their loyal to them.

Budget allocation staccatos.

Job Simiyu.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is budget.jpg
Council of Governors Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya (C) with governor Wyclife Wangamati (Bungoma) and Nderitu Mureithi (Laikipia) after they presented the Budget Proposal Statement before Senate Finance Committee on February 25, 2019. 

Right from the previous week, there seemed to be an endless fight between the kenyan parliament and the governors over budget allocation to the counties. A 300 billion budgetary allocation was to be given to the counties, but the senate insisted that they needed an extra 25 billion shillings, claiming that the developments in various counties were stagnating while the national government was making huge steps in their development plans.

This has brought contention in the country, and the deputy president made an appeal last week that there is no need for the two parties to move to court while this is something that could be sorted out amicably. His pleas seemingly fell into deaf years as the governors under the able leadership of their chairman, the governor of Kakamega, Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya, have moved to the court of appeal to seek clarification over the issue, as they claim the national parliament is not being fare in their discharge of duties.

“We must state that if mediation fails, county governments will decline to receive money for salaries (recurrent) for services they will not be providing. We cannot be so insensitive to the desires of our citizens who overwhelmingly voted for devolution,” Council of Governors chairman WycliFfe Oparanya said. What is the way forward for the county government workers all over the country? What will be the ruling of the court of appeal in regard to the issue? What will be the solution to the ever unending wrangles between the two parties?

Congress V.S Trump.

David Kennedy.

Donald Trump lately posted a tweet that has brought a great political heat in United States. Trump attacked four congresswomen of colour; three were born and raised in the US while the fourth moved to the US as a child. Republican Party representatives kept quiet and made a wave of criticism. The congresswomen — Alexandria Occasion-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar, who came to the US as a refugee aged 12 — have all called the president racist, and have been backed by members of the Democratic Party

Trump said that this women formerly came from countries whose governments had issues of instability, and that they should exit US to their home countries.

Donald Trump saw the online critics and called for a press meeting to protect his post. In this press meeting Donald Trump said that two Muslim women elected in the Congress party hated America and sympathized with Al Qaida hence that they should exit America.

Defiance in Nakuru County.

Derrick Khisa.

Impeached Roads committee Member Lucy Kariuki.

A last minute attempt by Governor Lee Kinyanjui to save his roads executive committee member Lucy Kariuki from being impeached flopped, after ward representatives voted to cast her out of the cabinet over allegations of gross misconduct. Less than 24 hours after Governor Kinyanjui did a reshuffle to his cabinet transferring Kariuki from the Roads and infrastructure docket to the department of Youth, Gender, Culture and Social services, the members of the county assembly voted 49 votes against 29 to kick her out of government.

In the reshuffle, Governor Kinyanjui appointed his deputy Erick Korir as the acting county executive in charge of roads. Although in his press release, the governor said the changes were meant to improve service delivery, it was evident that it had something to do with impending impeachment. The ward representatives unanimously adopted the report of the special committee that was formed to investigate Kariuki. “Pursuant to standing orders, if a resolution is supported by a majority of the house, the speaker shall deliver the resolution for further action.” Said the speaker.

After passing the motion, the ad-hoc committee chairman Peter Kajwang’ told the media that the decision by the governor to move Kariuki to head another docket was misinformed. Kajwang’ who represents Kaptembwo ward said the motion as presented by the committee cited Kariuki’s incompetence, abuse of office and gross misconduct. Peter Palanq’a the minority leader in the assembly said, by impeaching Kariuki, members had made their decision and expect the Governor to act on their decision.

Campus Politics.

Dennis Enzoveri.

Multimedia University of Kenya’s president Bob Shikuku with his deputy Yudius Netaya.

Politics in kenyan universities is not like national politics. They are murky, cutthroat, and marred with allegations of riots, corruption, and hooliganism. According to Multimedia University of Kenya President Bob Shikuku, elections in campuses are expensive. To be a student leader in a University, one has to campaign in all the faculties and campuses so that to get the majority support of the students across the board. Aspirants also need to please students in various ways such as throwing parties as well as buying drinks and food. Only a few ladies take the challenge as the process is extremely demanding and needs absolute dedication.

The primary responsibility of a university student leader is to narrow the gap that generally exists between the students and administration. Through University leaders, students can present their views and grievances to the administration. Through Campus leadership, one can also build his/her political future by aligning him/herself with national politicians like Raila Odinga. They are also entrusted with overseeing the business operations by students.

There are challenges that face campus politics. Ethnicity is a significant concern, and many students who cannot raise the massive funds are also sidelined. Male chauvinism is also evident in most universities. A road to success in campus politics needs strong and determined students who can withstand stereotypes and other obstacles.

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

  • Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
  • Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

  • Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
  • What topics do you think you’ll write about?
  • Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
  • If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

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