A BITTER-SWEET EXPERIENCE

By Purity Museo

Bitter-sweet revenge is a dish best served cold. The person doing so relishes its sweetness, as an eye for an eye makes us feel better for the wrong that has been done to us. It’s an expected, but short-lived pleasure that is often followed by long-lasting bitterness. With time, the sweetness of revenge turns to guilt, shame, regret and sadness. That’s why they say that revenge is bitter-sweet. 

Second year HR students seem to understand this better. This is evident through the manner by which they conduct themselves. I guess this was the reason why it was the only favourable group to have a chance in Annex for one semester. The only class that would accept having classes from 7am to 4pm non-stop and spend money daily on transport.

It has been a long journey for the second year HR students. Everyone was set for studies after some of the first year journalism students had approached one of the lecturers to confirm that there are no free marks in my university as stereotyped. This information set comrades on fire as everyone started thinking of nothing less than a first class honours degree. This seems to be a nightmare. 

Second years in diaspora are really suffering from loneliness but who cares. One of the ‘mama mbogas’ reminded me that this place is made for the PSSP students who are believed to be very rich when I tried to complain over the fact that a single tomato is sold at Ksh 10. Second years thought that everything would just be as in Main Campus. Out of sight, out of mind. This was evident when they went to the communication conference which was held in Main Campus last Friday.

The events at the COSAMU conference left them with a lot of bitterness. COSAMU is a communication students association but they did not seem to belong. The only thing they knew about the program was there would be presentations but no one had a glimpse of the whole program. They were like the Harambee Stars’ spectators. This was the only chance they had to remind themselves of writing and speaking, but it seems they are no longer communication students, they are lawyers. The hustle will come to a climax at the end of July when they will be clearing rooms and carrying their luggage back to Main Campus.

Despite the difficulties, comrades are united to survive. Indeed unity is strength and do not despise the humble beginning of second years. No one knows what they are up to. You need to visit Annex and see how united they are. They speak one language ready to persevere. This is the only group in history that will produce lifelong couples. Every member of staff praises them. Being in town for the first time, many thought of the worst from them. They will leave the mess operators to suffer loss since they claim that the law students eat in town-based hotels.

The writer is a 2nd Year journalism student currently in Annex.

OF MUSO AND MONEY MAKING

By Mohammed Doyo

If there is something MUSO officials have taught us, it is that the students’ organization is a cash cow that student leaders milk from. More often than not, you will hear the SGC members talk of the Ksh 3000 paid to them on a monthly basis as peanuts. But don’t be fooled, these people get allowances and make cash withdrawals from the MUSO account every other other week; more times in a week than Atwoli shouts ‘Msheeenzii’ in front of the cameras!

How many times have you seen posters of events at the student centre noticeboards advertising events organized by the MUSO directors? I bet we’ve all seen them. Some are genuine events, others dubious. Among them are Condom Demonstration Day, Young Mothers Week, Environmental Week, Nutrition Week (funny enough, a section of students who fully depend on HELB got nothing to eat while we speak of nutrition) Garbage Collection Week, Health Awareness Week, Young Fathers Week etc. 

Don’t be surprised if you hear of these soon: Bouncers week, USA Eaters Empowerment - (Ugali Sukuma Avocado) Week and Vertically Challenged Students Week (I must attend this one if it happens.) 

Why all these ‘weeks’? Each of these events comes with thousands of shillings. For example, Ksh 50,000 is allocated for an event. You spend 20,000 on sodas and certificates, how much do you remain with? Simple mathematics! And that is just a single event. Imagine organizing 3 such events in a month? What’s your new worth? Yes, you got it right. It’s almost 100,000!

And as we speak MUSO account is running on a deficit amounting to millions. While all these cash withdrawals happen, don’t forget that, to date, no single needy student has been awarded the MUSO bursaries despite huge amounts budgeted for the activity at the beginning of the MUSO term. And what’s the reason? The office of the Dean of Students speaks of the MUSO account having no funds! Sounds ironic, right? Ask Gertrude Kurgat, the union’s vice chairlady, she’ll explain.


Then there is attending events. Ask Titus Mururu, the academics director, how many times he visits HELB offices in a month. Definitely more times than he visits the academics office to demand the release of delayed exam transcripts! He will tell you how an allowance of Ksh 7000 lands in his pocket each time he travels. Funny enough despite the numerous visits to HELB offices to negotiate the loan release, students are yet to get the loan! Ask the 3rd years, they have more details regarding this issue.

Well, if I continue speaking about MUSO officials and their money deals, I might as well write a 500 page novel. However, before I pen off I won’t forget to wish the 4th year 26th Student Governing Council members the best as they leave the MUSO account in ‘pieces’. You are geniuses! Congratulations for living up to the ideals of your fellow leaders on the national platform – MPigs.

THE ADDICTIVE NATURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

By Japhet Ruto

Referring to Isaac Meso's article "Half-baked graduates who is to blame?", it is my opinion that social media is to blame for being too addictive. Most university students can't do without it. The desire to text frequently, tweet, Facebook, among other social networking activities is higher than that of the desire to take alcohol or smoke cigarettes in a day. According to my observation from a sample campus population, about 90 per cent of the student population access the Internet daily. 

We are in a digital world and communication has been made easier these days. However, our ability to think is now driven by social media such that if we were to be disconnected from it for a day some of us may fall sick. We no longer read widely, we use Google whenever we have assignments.

The reason behind most university students using 'mwaks' is attached to social media. We spend most of our time on Twitter, WhatsApp, 2go and other social networking sites instead of taking time to concentrate on academic work. I can firmly say that social media has deprived us of our talents. We can't go to the field to play because we are stuck to our phones. The essence of social media is to make communication easier, not to create laziness among us. Remember, no employer in the job market will recruit you based on the time you access social media sites.

DRAMA QUEEN

By Stanley Kimuge

They call her Lucy. Maybe that is because she is too loose. She stays on the third floor of Hostel K. A few weeks and she will be bolting out of the 8-4-5 system. When I cross-examined her, I discovered that she has some loopholes. Something could be amiss, everybody will whisper about her. She’s a drama queen. 

You will find out that she is a real smoker. At home, she smokes firewood. Here in campus, her room is ever misty. She is now used to puffing weed. She just graduated from consuming three packets of cigarettes a day. You might be misled into believing that she is an engineer. 

This girl is so allergic to water that she rarely baths. That is why she likes throwing water through the window. Effectuating waterfalls is her hobby. She suffers from indolence. She washes dishes in her room. Soon she pours a blend of omena's soup, and all kinds of "lemonade". In short, she often forgets that she still resides on the top floor and that there is someone right below her. Or maybe, she skived classes on the Newton’s Law.

Well, inside her room, there are bags. Below the bed she sleeps on are bugs on attachment. Rumour has it that she brought those blood sucking creatures from those infested universities. In another black bag, there are white-like tablets. Across the table is a yellow packet of latex. I don’t know what she does with. I guess she needs to be sure.

For sure, her life span has been sliced into half. Just like the sub-woofer she inherited from her fifth year dude a fortnight ago. The gadget never takes a rest. It sings to her taste - zilizopendwa all night long. She doesn't bother that it sends her neighbour into insomniac mode. 

This damsel has evolved too fast! Remember when she was in her first year, she wore long skirts. She attended all church services. But nowadays, she puts on tiny shorts during lectures. When a guy seats next to her, his mind usually hangs like Internet in the library.

If only the green book could work on dress code, half of the seats would be empty. It is good that such laws are never followed up here. But at least she has got a few days to log out. I am convinced that she will walk naked in the next class if she stays. 


The writer is a 4th Year Information Science student.