WE STILL DON’T NEED TO CLAP FOR THE "ADMIN"

By William Dekker 

One good doesn’t cancel all the other wrongs. That’s why I would be a little reluctant to hail the Moi University Administration for stepping the game up a little by introducing the online booking system. Fine, at least for the improvement; one or two praises won’t do harm. But it’s not worth changing perceptions. Even the system itself has vivid shortcomings, some silent while others glaring; like a frustrating sign-up process, delayed passwords, inability to sustain simultaneous access by the numerous users from different access points. 

I’m still wondering why it discriminates against the PSSP students. That term "priority given to JAB students” is just an excuse or a polite way to discriminate. For instance, in my class alone, around 50% of the students are PSSP students. Does it mean all of them will have to "sort themselves out their own way"? I thought the days of segregation and battles between PSSP & GSSP (JAB) students are long gone. Ask Mr. Mureithi (Bwana Dean), he’ll reveal to you that blood was shed before it was solved.

Now, while still praising a system that perhaps will just fail on Monday and send us back to our manual world, let’s look at the other side of it all. I’d compare it to the famous IEBC Electronic Voter Identification (EVID) kits (some call it Biometric) that were the talk in town just before they sent the whole electoral process into the manual realm. You book a room online, ELECTRONICALLY right? Scan a hard copy piece of paper then upload it. 

Why couldn't they just link the system from the Accommodation Bank Account to the “online thing”? Or better still, just ask for the receipt number and leave it at that instead of putting comrades through a frustrating process of scanning, then submitting a document that takes ages to upload depending on how close you are to “faiba”(Fibre).

Remember when it comes to that, it only needs a semi-literate computer chap to forge or tamper with one’s scanned JPEG receipt before uploading. Actually, these are some of the tempting situations that compel one to go down that road, even if the intentions didn’t exist. Expose someone to a crime, then stick a notice that reads “any fraudulent action would be subjected to disciplinary action” and it’s not worth it all! Because it’s simple; scan>>>edit>>>upload>>>get disciplinary action.

Then you still have to wait till Monday for a manual confirmation from the janitor. Meaning the current booking concept is NOT A GUARANTEE that you will get that room you intended. In other terms, it means that as from Monday, comrades will still have to queue, struggle and even part with some “chai” just to get the three basic confirmations of room allocation: a room key, mattress and dustbin! Manual it is, comrades!

Remember even the very important concepts are still yet to be implemented; electronic results that comrades have demanded since the ISO certification. And I’m still wondering who will tackle the missing marks, non-existent campus wide wireless internet access and inadequate bed space. (Of course by Monday, hundreds will still be “accommodation-less”.) 

PARTING SHOT: Ever noticed that the MU website is so limited on student information yet so full of "admin" stuff? From the Governor’s courtesy call to the VC’s partnership with organizations, blah blah! And photos are there to support the claims, making one think that the snaps were taken with intended purposes. It more or less looks like an advertising page; uBid, Google+ or OLX!