Students in their lecturers' role

Due to late release of course registration forms in Moi University, it has been revealed that students normally act as their own lecturers, signing the forms for themselves and their fellows too.

In one of the schools of the University's main campus for instance, the departments usually avail such forms at the end of every semester, a time when majority of lecturers are done with class work hence turned to other businesses elsewhere. This gives students extra assignments of searching for their tutors' signatures as they apply for examination cards.

It is for this reason that some students have developed talents amongst themselves, aiming at doing away with such inconveniences. A student identified as Eduach (not his real name) is one of the best talented in terms of faking signatures and has therefore been of great help to his classmates since first year, who no longer have to waste time looking for lecturers to append their signatures. He does it perfectly at no cost.

Rosalia Siriguech (also not her real name) is one of the beneficiaries of Eduach's services. In an interview with EBENEZER News Online on Thursday last week, Siriguech admitted to have obtained an exam card without getting closer to any of her lecturers in her fourth year of study.

"Eti wewe lazima utafute lecturers? Si utakosa kufanya exam? Mimi nimejiekea-ekea na kwengine nikasainiwa na Eduach mpaka nimepata exam card." Narrated the lady.

"Sasa lecturer kama Birigain (not his real name) ambaye hata hayuko Kenya, signature yake utaipata wapi?" She continued.

Other students sharing Eduach's talent include Alodoit, Brotth, Cyrilee and to some extent, Gilbuesh, none of who bears his/her real name.

Watangazaji wafunzwe Kiswahili zaidi

Mojawapo ya vigezo vinavyozingatiwa wakati wa usajili wa wanafunzi katika taaluma za uanahabari ni ukwasi wa lugha. Taasisi nyingi nchini Kenya zinazotoa mafunzo hayo katika viwango mbali mbali vikiwemo shahada, diploma na vyeti hususani katika utangazaji hupendelea wanafunzi waliofanya vizuri katika somo la Kiingereza, Kiswahili au yote mawili.

Sababu ya kufanya hivyo ni kuhakikisha wanafunzi hao ambao ni wataalamu wa badaye wana uwezo wa kujieleza kwa lugha yoyote kati ya hizo mbili za kitaifa iwe ni kwenye magazeti, majarida, redio, runinga au hata mtandaoni. Jukumu kubwa zaidi la mwanahabari ni kuwasilisha ujumbe kwa hadhira na ni dhahiri kwamba ala muhimu anayohitaji kufanyia hivyo ni lugha.

Hapo awali, kulingana na katiba, lugha ya Kiingereza ilitambulika kama lugha ya kitaifa ilhali ile ya Kiswahili ikasemekana kuwa ni lugha rasmi. Hata hivyo, kulingana na katiba mpya iliyoidhinishwa kupitia kura ya maoni ya mwaka wa 2010, Kiswahili pia kinatambulika kama lugha ya kitaifa na inachukuliwa kwa usawa na Kiingereza.

Cha kushangaza ni kwamba lugha ya Kiswahili haijatiliwa mkazo katika kuwafunza wanaodhamiria kuwa watangazaji katika baadhi ya vyuo vikuu na vyuo anuai. Mfano mzuri ni chuo kikuu cha Moi, kinachotoa mafunzo tofauti tofauti yanayohusiana na utangazaji. Katika kitivo cha sayansi za habari, kunayo taaluma ya sayansi ya uanahabari. Kati ya jumla ya masomo 56 anayofaa kuyapitia mwanafunzi kabla ahitimu, mawili tu ndiyo hufunzwa kwa lugha ya Kiswahili.

Hali hii imesababisha wanafunzi wengi kutoimarika katika kuandika au kuzungumza kwa lugha ya Kiswahili, jambo ambalo huathiri utendakazi wao hasa wale wanaoajiriwa katika vyumba vya habari vinavyotangaza au kuandika kwa Kiswahili. Wanapolazimika kuitumia lugha hiyo, hufanya hivyo wakiwa na mtazamo hasi au bila kuzingatia usahihi wa kisarufi. Wanahabari hao mara nyingi hushindwa na tafsiri za maneno ya kimsingi hivyo basi hutumia njia ya mkato ya kutohoa misamiati mingi kutoka kwa lugha zengine.

Kuna haja ya taasisi mbali mbali kufanya mageuzi katika mtaala wao, si katika taaluza za utangazaji tu bali na nyenginezo pia. Mtu anayesomea kozi ya kibiashara kwa mfano, anayeazimia kufanya kazi kama mkurugenzi wa kampuni, ni muhimu ajue kuwasiliana kwa lugha ya Kiswahili kando na ya Kiingereza, na si Kiswahili tu bali Kiswahili sanifu.

New Media class goes interactive

The concept of interactivity in New Media was clearly observed during a media class for a course coded MES 414 and titled ‘New Media’, when a student made a wonderful distant presentation from as far as Nairobi to a class in Moi University, Eldoret.

Irene Chemtai coordinating the phone presentation

Jalang’o John Njoga is a fourth year media student whose good luck seems to surpass the rest of his classmates. As an undergraduate student, Jalang’o has already established ‘nationwide’ connections in the media industry. He has worked for such organizations as The Nairobian and The Standard Media Group, where he is currently attached.

Despite being already entitled to a reasonable salary, the Luo boy is still looking for marks from Moi University’s main campus. He skips 100% of lectures but when it comes to assignments, CATs and exams, he is always under pressure to score 100% in each. His fellow group members are always keen to alert him whenever his contribution is required in any of his group assignments. They do so at a little fee, I suspect.

However, Dr. Omanga, the course lecturer has a different style. He awards marks to students according to one’s performance in oral presentations. This came as a blow to the student-practitioner, whose group members made their presentation in his absence and therefore missed a single individual mark despite his commendable contribution in the write-up. He therefore held negotiations with Omanga and was finally given a topic for a solo presentation.

Due to job commitments, Jalang’o chose a distant presentation over travelling to Moi. He was allowed to use Skype platform to make his presentation on Thursday 7^th August 2014. Skype is a video calling service that enables two distant parties to actively interact with each other over the internet. In addition to the traditional textual chats and voice calls, the service adds the visual concept, making the conversation appear more real than mediated.

Jalang’o had liaised with one Irene Chemtai, a classmate, to coordinate the exercise and see that it succeeds. To the best of her knowledge, the lady made every effort required of her but finally the system failed her. A quick solution was therefore found – a switch from Skype to a normal telephone call.

With enough airtime in the lecturer’s smart phone, the class was connected to the presenter, who explained to them his findings of the topic he had been assigned to research on. A sound-boosting system was assembled in front of the class to ensure that everyone hears loudly and clearly. Still, Chemtai had to supervise the electronics despite her little knowledge of their operations.

The presentation commenced, went on and ended successfully and when it was time for questions, comments and reactions, most of the class members logged onto their phone WhatsApp group and posted their reactions on it. Jalang’o was therefore able to receive numerous comments from which he selected a few to react to. However, some members were simply posting jokes but they, too, contributed to the concept of interactivity though through out-of-topic participation.

MUSO Election: Who was declared chair?

On Friday 22nd August 2014, the Moi University Students Organization (MUSO) conducted its election exercise, to determine the 11 members who would form the 28th Students Governing Council.

As usual, the most sensitive post was that of chairperson, which attracted a total of seven candidates. Out of these, two appeared to be the most popular especially towards the end of the campaign period. They were endorsed by their respective tribal coalitions, Geofrey Omondi from CORD and Robert Bwalei of Jubilee, a true reflection of national politics.

After the exercise and therefore tallying process, Omondi, a Luo, reaped a total of 2,214 votes, 251 ahead of the second-placed Bwalei from the Kalenjin community. But who, exactly, did the returning officer declare as the new MUSO chairperson?

Find out here

Profile 3: Oquier or Okeya?

Group 5 went on stage, for the final presentation. As usual, they began with some introductions. Brian Mala set the ball rolling, with his name and registration number and the rest followed. Dr. Omanga, the lecturer, was keen to note down their details for the purpose of mark awarding.

Then it was time for a one-time aspirant for the docket of Director of Catering in last year's students election, Miss Cadrix Okeya.

CADRIX: (In a Jamaican accent) My name is Cadrix 'Oquier'
KATANA: (Surprised) Cadrix O...?
CADRIX: Cadrix Oquier
A better section of the class burst out laughing!

For all that time, the lecturer seemed not to be disturbed. He was busy writing down the lady's second name in a way that seemed correct, at least to himself.

Then suddenly, an idea came into Cadrix's mind. She realized that we were in a serious forum, looking for marks. It dawned to her that the accent she had employed in pronouncing especially her second name might mislead Omanga during awarding of marks. She therefore found it necessary to clearly re-state her name:
CADRIX: (In her native Luo accent and with a faster tempo) I am Cadrix OKEYAAA!!!

The failing electoral commission

A politician is never politically neutral. Moi University ignored this fact during the formation of students electoral commission a few weeks ago, for the forthcoming students election scheduled for tomorrow, Friday.

The commission is made up of 90% politicians and political activists, selected through a 'democratic' process and mandated to organize and oversee tomorrow's election. As predicted, most of the members failed to assume political neutrality and ended up revealing their support for certain aspirants.

As the voting day approached, a clear division was formed, with candidates forming tribal coalitions, prominently the CORD and Jubilee. Surprisingly, some members of the electoral commission also appeared to take sides of their choice. They, too, became divided!

Today, some hours before the election exercise, the situation reached its peak during the final campaign gathering held outside the students centre. One 'drunk' supporter from a certain language group messed up everything when he/she threw a stone at an influential aspirant on stage, sparking off war between two tribes we know.

The gathering ended pre-maturely, with the two groups going into a serious battle along the academic highway. The electoral commissioners who were in control of the programming were left to stare at each other's eyes, as if trying to admit their failure.

As a result, several students got injured and were rushed to the campus dispensary for treatment. Where the stones came from is still a mystery because the battle took place along a tar marked road, with some beautiful green grass and flowers on each side.

Until now, tension is still high and what will happen tomorrow after the election results get announced is also unknown. With these political commissioners in charge, do we still expect a free and fair election tomorrow?

Readers' reactions, writers' dilemma

It is said that a writer remains blind to how his/her readers react to the text until they finally respond. I agree. The diversity of audience surely makes it hard to at least make a guess regarding the same. After all, different people consume similar pieces of information for different purposes – some to get informed, for leisure, to criticize – just to mention a few.

However, I have personally come to realize that there are a few ‘funny’ responses that one ought to be prepared for, especially while writing for such a vibrant forum as ‘Moi University Press Club, The Third Eye’. If you want to believe this, take some time, go through some of the comments made for stories posted in this fan page. Trust me; you might not stop laughing, at least for a while! You will come across comments that you least expected. That is what I normally do sometimes when I am depressed.

As I write this piece, I constantly refer back to its beginning, just to confirm that it is still a short one. Some comrades seem not to be in love with long text pieces. They have no time for them, whether or not they have something else to do. “I can’t read all this…” “This is too long…” “Can someone summarize this for me…?” are some of the complaints that I want to avoid now. So trust me, this won’t be ‘too long’ for you.

Allow me to restate one or two replies for a news story that I came across sometimes back. Someone, after reading the online post, just said, “e.t.c” Another one wrote, “Blah blah blah!” I did not really understand what they meant until I asked one of them, who said, “Ok, I read the story and understood it. I simply had nothing serious to say about it, I just wanted to submit a comment.”

Well, I promised you that I was going to keep this one short. For that matter, let me disregard all the other paragraphs that I am yet to type, so that I can sum up with the question of, ‘What exactly do readers want?’

Read this story elsewhere

Profile 2: Soi, the accent-conscious man

Sam Soi is a fourth year student in Moi University’s main campus. He is a younger brother to Anne Soi Mwendia, a popular Kenyan presenter currently working for BBC Africa.

Sam Soi, a media student

As a media student, Sam knows that a day will come when he, like his sister, will probably be expected to in front of a camera or sit behind a microphone and talk to the world.

Like any other wise person, he believes in early preparations as an important tool for one’s success. This explains why he is always under pressure to adopt a better accent than his indigenous one. Since his first year of study in the School of Information Sciences, Sam has been struggling to synchronize his voice in a bid to ‘speak like a European’. Has he succeeded?

Four years down the line, the aspiring presenter is still struggling. In fact, the struggle seems to get tougher with time. Whenever he speaks, during a class presentation for instance, Sam usually begins well, with a real English accent within the first two or three sentences. However, his perceived ‘wonderful’ accent disappears in the subsequent sentences, slowly fading into his original Kalenjin one.

Rumors have it that his sister Anne secured him internship at K24 Television Station during the last 9-months long holiday, a chance the boy allegedly declined for no good reason. Could it be due to lack of confidence? Perhaps he thought that his adoptive accent was still not near perfection.

Time is running fast. With only a few months to graduation, Sam is apparently in dilemma. What will happen if, after studies, he secures employment at a time when he is yet to perfect his preferred style of talking? And maybe that time he will also have forgotten his old accent. How then will he speak?

Profile 1: A passive but harsh H.O.D

For a long time I only heard about her, but now I know her. I know who she really is. Dr. Emily Kogos is (said to be) the Head of Department, Publishing and Media Studies in the School of Information Sciences where I pursue my degree. From papers and people's mouths, she is indeed an H.O.H, but practically she is just another annoying woman.

Kogos is (one of) the most unfriendly lecturers on earth, I understand. With the position she apparently occupies, the Doctor of something assumes authority more than the president of a country. This is, in most cases, what one should expect from a woman in a top position. I guess the administration of Moi University main campus was under divine inspiration when it denied her the opportunity of succeeding Prof. Japheth Otike as the new dean of our school. Otherwise most of us would be expelled for such reasons as coughing in class or owning mobile phones.

On Friday 8th August, I was in the publishing lab for a noble task with other media students including those from other schools. On such days, we usually compile news stories for the whole week, record and edit them into one piece called 'Michipuko ya habari' which then runs on the Moi University Radio as from 5pm the same day.

It happened that the H.O.D had, earlier that week, 'bounced' a class and therefore wanted a make-up that day. With the help of one Okumu Mala, she identified our venue and termed it 'free' despite all what we were doing with the microphone, mixer, computers and ours voices. Like John the Baptist, Okumu was sent to prepare the way for the coming messiah and he really achieved his mission. In the middle of a recording, the now-passive class rep. quickly switched off all the equipment with authority from the woman who arrived half an hour later.

We had to migrate to the studio and take advantage of the off-air instances of an on-going program to complete our production. Before the class kicked off, the messenger of doom, Mr. Okumu came to the studio and gave us the final regulation.

"Ok, the class is about to begin and so you will not be allowed to pass by. You will remain here until 5pm when the class ends." He said.

That was too much for me and I chose to leave immediately.

Agak has also once fallen victim of the H.O.D's tough regulations. He had invited a guest for one of his Monday shows in the studio. Unfortunately, he found the woman lecturing in the publishing lab and, despite all his muscles, his guest and him were prevented from accessing the studio because they would interrupt the class.

Whether you want to enter or leave the studio and you find the 'almighty' in the lab, you will have to wait for whatever number of hours the class will take before doing so because you will interrupt her session, I do not know how. Does she really understand the importance of practical experience in one’s area of specialization if she can literally make it difficult for student journalism to access the studio just because she is lecturing at the entrance?

Humility is not purchased madam. As a woman, an H.O.D for that matter, being friendly to your subjects is valuable and is sufficient to make them value you in return. There is no point of sometimes locking yourself in your office and instructing the secretaries to say, “She is not in” to any guest she perceives to be less serious as was done to me last semester.

As the principal of my department, you are obviously responsible for the poor services I receive from other staff members and the general underperformance of my/your department. I have been in this university for years but I only saw you once in my life – last Friday.

Where have you been and how were you able to supervise the departmental operations? Where were you when my lecturer, Mr. Mbengei, was acting on your behalf? Where had you gone when my class harassed some lecturers last year due to a delayed academic trip, results and other poor services? You have been passive in your duties all those years so why  be so harsh? Could it be because you missed the chance of becoming the dean? But you went for an interview and failed so you can wait for three years and try again madam.

Thank you