ON THE BEAM BALANCE- FLORENCE DOGHANA’S SUCCESSES AND FAILURES

By Mohammed Doyo
Beginning this week, The 3rd Eye will be analyzing the successes and failures of the 26th Student Governing Council (SGC) which presumably will be ending its tenure officially in a few days time. We will be evaluating the performance of each of the 12th members heading MUSO (Moi University Students’ Organization). This week, we focus on the chairman of the union, Florence Doghana.

Florence Doghana, a political scientist, will perhaps go into history as the longest serving SGC chairman in over 25 years of MUSO existence. Popularly referred to as ‘Mr. President’ by a section of the students, Doghana entered office in March 2012 and has continued to serve to date.

Doghana , who won hearts at the 2012 game changing crossfire thanks to his electrifying speech has had both ups and down . To begin with, he was involved in a tussle with his counterpart, Seth Dikembe, almost immediately after he assumed office over the nomination of Stephen Macharia as the Editor-in-chief of MUSO. In a power supremacy battle that lasted for weeks, Doghana was able to nullify Macharia’s appointment, promising to appoint another Editor in Chief. Perhaps the greatest of his undoing, despite all the efforts to nullify Macharia’s appointment, the post has remained vacant to date costing the union an editor to run ‘The Daily Illuminator’-a MUSO publication.

A section of students also accuse ‘Mr. President’ of failing to intervene over the reporting dates that have remained a constant headache due to their unpredictable nature. For instance, the KCSE 2009 group who recently finished their 4th year education accuse the chairman of doing little when they had to stay at home for over a year despite joining the institution way back before the inception of the accelerated double intake program.

Other groups too have lodged several accusations against Doghana and his SGC team for not intervening when the infamous ‘impromptu’ further notices, synonymous with Moi University, strike.

Some students also feel the chairman has done little especially when matters concerning ‘HELB’ disbursements take the centre stage. For instance, the Chairman was seen to take a backseat during the June 2012 famous push for HELB disbursements that involved campus activist and SGC members; the likes of Obilo Kobilo and Dikembe Disembe. This year, the current 3rd years have lodged similar complaints against him and the rest of the SGC for not pressurizing the administration enough to push HELB into disbursing the funds on time.

Doghana have also scored low in building and enhancing the spirit of comradeship among students. Rarely did he make efforts to unite students to rally behind a common course, save for the demo against MU-84 Sacco.

Other students also speak of Doghana as being too moderate and complacent in handling students’ issues while others have complained of his inaccessibility. Doghana has been residing in Eldoret town for the better part of his 4th year education.
Nonetheless, Doghana has had his fair share of success stories. It is during his tenure that online balloting of hostels has been introduced same for wireless internet that has reached some places in the campus. In addition, it’s during his regime that a disabled student – Abdullahi-was nominated to the SGC. In 2012, he was instrumental in the demonstration against the MU-84 Sacco fare hikes.

In several occasions Doghana has rubbed the administration the wrong way for speaking his mind especially in senate and disciplinary meetings concerning the managerial inefficiencies of the institution’s. In the same breath, the flossy chairman who is fond of spotting Nigerian robes, has managed to remain 'independent' in an SGC that has been clogged with numerous allegations of being administration ‘projects’.