AN OPEN LETTER TO THE ADMINISTRATION

By Jeff Kenyatta

She’s not alone, that orphan; that comrade. For along the highway, I’ve met many, parched with thirst, dying of hunger over a ‘helbless’ semester; the voiceless unknowns.

I heard her cryptic call of help by the knock at my door. She’s got no parents, they both died. She’s left alone, soliciting funds from well-wishers to pay for her college fee and upkeep. Her last hope to clear fee – HELB, still remains a nightmare. A victim of circumstance, she’s bound to miss her exams.

It’s a cold world, an insensitive system. It turns a blind eye to the poor child seeking an education. It left her with no shelter – told her to clear fee and rent before she secures a room. Where should she turn to for help? MUSO bursary kitty is bankrupt. The work-study programs have turned into charity programs, operating under a “No Pay, No Say” philosophy. A system that’s told her she’s on her own.

She’s not alone, that orphan; that comrade.

I’ve heard the surging pain in the words of a fellow classmate: We wanted the HELB money to be reflected, not on BOARD WALLS but in our BANK ACCOUNTS. The applicant lists pinned at the Students’ Centre was bogus; its intention was to silence the noise.
I’ve felt the rush during the HELB protest. In the shouts and clamour, in the presence of comrades who’d rather be there than attend classes. In the eyes of young ladies; worn out, but still up in arms, tired with sour feet but who still had the audacity to march with us to the administration to agitate for our cause.

I’ve seen the agony in rooms with empty shelves and dry tins; the despair and anguish of going to class with a grumbling stomach. I’ve seen the shame in soliciting, merely begging, hand-outs from classmates because your pockets do not have even a single silver coin.

Hungry and tired, we’ve strolled in offices, big offices. From the Dean’s corridors, we’ve gone to the senate chambers. From Room 134 to the DVC’s office, we’ve met virtually anyone and everyone. In a promissory note, we were assured that in case HELB funds wouldn’t have been disbursed by now, exams scheduled from 24th would ultimately be postponed or successful loan applicants who’ve not cleared fee, would be an exempted case in the issuance of exam cards.

Today, friends think of deferring studies. Today, classmates cannot find the ease of revising with the dilemma on whether they’ll seat for their exams. Today, the destitute and poor continue to wallow in the miasma of hopelessness. The orphans wish their parents would be alive to solve their education nightmare.

Outright desperation has led children of men to sleep with dogs. No one asks why. Here, not so long ago, a student stole his friend’s laptop to sell it to settle his fee balance – a sum of Sh. 9000. No one asks why.

Today, let us search our hearts. Do unto other men’s children as you would want them to do unto yours. Underneath the clamour of buildings and our day’s pursuits, let us join reason to faith and experience to action to transform our unity of interest into unity of purpose.

WILL MAIN CAMPUS RISE ABOVE BOARD?

By Timothy Simwa

It is normal within the context of Kenyan politics for election campaigns to resume barely few days after the inauguration of a new president. You wake up to projections and queer speculation of who might succeed an incumbent president who is barely a week old in office. We are a country where politics precedes economy whereas issues of national concern are treated with relative ease and leisure. 

As we take a break from the aftermath of the general elections, thank the Almighty that sanity prevailed over intolerance, hate and hooliganism, even though contentment and dissatisfaction were expressed in equal measures about its outcome. This depended on your coalition of inclination. Accept and move on was the new slogan that only the Hassan-Oswago-led team can explain. Our lives remained the same anyway. 

But of great concern is a precedent that the last election seemed to have set. It is a general consistent trend that has culminated and, by extension, defined our belly-crawling university politics. Having been witnessed at the University of Nairobi student elections, and then replicated at the Town Campus, the arithmetic of tyranny might finally find its way to main campus.

Despite the fiasco surrounding the MUSO elections, it will be held someday. It is evident that Jubilee/CORD orientation might shape the next MUSO elections. Even though this might not augur well with aspirants from the minority, it is this plain truth you have to grapple with and a characteristic of fledgling democracy. As a matter of fact the next MUSO chairman and his team (the university has never had a chairlady last time I checked) will be a product of tribal groupings. It will be a slugfest devoid of real issues that are fueling discontent among comrades. 

Aspirants will have to assess their ethnicity count. It is the only apparent strategy for you to flex your way through and procure MUSO shops ownership. (Of course that is what motivates aspirants around here). If by any chance you hail from the Kenyan big five (refer to census 2009 if you have no idea who they are), you stand a favourable chance. I take no delight in writing this article knowing it won’t be a walk in the park for people I share pedigree with: the minority. 

I think the elites are the leading masters of hate speech and propaganda. They have been at their beat at Balkanizing the country into tribal fiefdoms. Kenyans have perfected the of art reducing and manipulating anything bizarre that finds its way into mainstream media to reflect the even distribution of CORD and Jubilee, or even worse skew it towards a particular ethnicity.

The Mombasa dog saga that portends a grave threat to our tender fabric of morality was trivialized by worrying CORD and Jubilee die-hards to achieve a balance in ethnic representation. In such instances the minority will find a reason to contend with our awkward position in this country. MUSO elections will obviously be another platform for tyrannical manifestations. But being a university with a difference, anything is possible. May the strong tyranny wins.

BECAUSE YOU LOVE

By Irene Murithi

Is it bad to fall in love? I always thought it a very good feeling; that your friends should always be happy when you succeed to find a heart that cares for you. Friends beware of the “friends” you call your friends. Love is a sickness that one can never control when it befalls them. It is not a directive from one’s mind yet it takes full control of one.

Being in love, you learn to respect yourself and the one you love. You always feel satisfied and secure knowing that there is a heart somewhere that cares for and loves you. A heart that loves you would genuinely do anything to get a stay in your heart without paying any rent. It will make someone do the craziest of things to make you happy. When you find a person who strives to ensure there is always a smile on your face, be glad; you have found a lifetime friend and love.

Ever thought of the very many things you do in the name of love? Of course some are genuine and others are not. When it’s genuine, there will be no mandatory cases between two souls which are in love. On the other hand, there are others who will do things in the name of love yet deep inside them it is phony and they know it. If you ever sat down to write the things you do for a person you say you love, the list would be endless if you really are real about it.
You will always find yourself thinking about somebody. 

You’ll fantasize till you smile unknowingly, all in the name of love. You sleep, dream and possibly speak out your secrets deep in the night because you love. You feel attached and do not want them to leave because you love. You find yourself caught in a fix with friends possibly because they saw you and they really want to know when you fell in love. They say you discovered something that made you ignore them. You try getting out of the fix and your friends harass you, all in the name of your love. 

When you fall in love, I would advise you not to share it because those you share with could probably like it or not. Fellow Christians will either say he/she is not a believer so it is not good for you. Others in the same line will say he/she belongs to a different religion or even tribe. Do not run away! They are still your friends and you still need them, you only need to be distinctive. Probably there are some who are saying it out of a good heart while others are just saying it because they do not want to see you happy. You need to know who your true friends are. 

There are moments when you feel happy and need to talk to someone. Be sure you are ready to let the whole world know you are in love. As you get yourself a friend you ‘think’ you can trust, be cautious. I do not mean to say that the world should not know that you are in love. It does not also mean that you cannot trust your friends. No. The world, as a matter of fact, has a right to know you are in love and you are loved and you too have a right to trust your friends. 

Keep yourselves safe, friends. Stay far away from them who keep on questioning and following up on everything you do yet they have their own and will not talk about them. They want to keep themselves safe from the hands of the world but they want you there. Stay safe, play a game of love and one that is worth because you love.

HELB PROBLEM NOT SOLVED

By Boaz Onyango 

The much awaited HELB delegation has finally arrived. It turns out to comprise of only one individual who is expected to sort out the problems of more than 200 comrades!

I talked to the official just a few minutes ago before the room got crowded. Her response to comrades’ questions is rather flattering. I asked her a very simple question “Can you check, confirm and tell me if you received my form?” She looked at me and politely answered that she did not know whether my form had been received or not.

Not the type to give up easily, I asked her another question “Do you have any idea when HELB will disburse funds to the students who have not received their loan yet? Her answer did not surprise me. She again looked at me and politely told me that she had absolutely no idea.

Having answered all my questions to the best of her ability, it was time to give other comrades an opportunity for their questions to be answered. I stood up and looked at her, then wondered to myself, is this a mockery or what? How can a person who is supposed to assist you solve your problems be more blank than yourself?

Tomorrow we will seek an audience with the DVC over this issue and also to request him to allow students with a fee balance of 4000 to sit for exams because it’s not their fault that money has not been disbursed.