The Ganze Ward Office

Friday 20th June, 2014. “Yes what about it?” One may ask. Well, that’s what this article is all about. It is the day I paid my first visit to the Ganze Ward office.

You may be surprised why I had never been there before, considering the fact that the occupant of that office has been in power for quite some time, following the March 4th 2013 general elections. Although still under training, as a journalist, I have tried as much as possible not to be friends with any of my leaders. This, according to my thinking, will pose no dilemma when one day I have to report issues concerning them, both good and evil.

I come from Kilifi, a county that is headed by Governor Hon. Amason Kingi, together with Senetor Hon. Stewart Madzayo and Hon. Peter Safari Shehe, the Member of Parliament representing Ganze constituency where I live in. All these are people I have never met. Then there is Hon. Japhet Nzaro, the Member of County Assembly (MCA), Ganze Ward Representative, whose office I at least visited the other day.

The aim of my visit was quite simple. I had submitted my scholarship bursary application form a couple of months ago and had just gone to collect my cheque. To my surprise, there was no cheque for me. I only found my name on a piece of paper, plus the amount awarded. It was in a list of beneficiaries both in secondary schools and higher learning institutions such as universities, colleges and polytechnics. The allocation had already been done but no single cheque had been written.

Mr. Jackson Mangi, the scholarship manager was the one answerable on behalf of the MCA who was absent by then. According to him, the Ganze Ward scholarship account was out of funds. Some money amounting to Ksh. 4.2 million from the county had not yet been released but had already been budgeted for. This was the reason for the unavailability of cheques corresponding to application forms submitted as early as February. Please do not get confused. Ganze ward does not have a separate bursary office; the MCA’s office serves perfectly.

That was the last Friday of my holiday. I was supposed to report back to campus the following Monday, 23rd June, but not without the cheque. I explained this to Jackson and he agreed to write an official letter of commitment to my campus, explaining that I had been allocated a few thousands but due to the delay, the cheque shall arrive at a later date. It worked. I am now in school and was allowed to attend all lectures until July 11th when the payment must have been done. Whatever will happen afterwards in case the payment delays further is still unknown to me.

Now, the letter was handwritten because the office of the honourable does not have typing facilities. The scholarship manager lacks a computer and so does his secretary. In fact from their appearance, I tend to think that none of them has the skills to operate computers. Everything is done manually and this, I believe, has been the cause of all unnecessary delays that my fellow citizens have always complained about. Whenever the committee encounters a task that cannot be done manually, there is a cyber café close to the office where services like typing, photocopying, scanning, etc are offered at a fee. Is it not surprising how that office operates without such basic facilities in this digital era?

As I was going through the list of beneficiaries for the ward bursary funds, I came across some funny trends. Schools around Ganze shopping center where the office is located got the lion’s share. Ganze Boys Secondary had a total of 38 students allocated Ksh. 7000 each while their female counterparts, Ganze Girls had 34. There were 40 names from Godoma Secondary, while Magogoni had 33. On the other hand, it was pathetic for schools slightly away from the office though still within Ganze Ward. Sokoke Boys had 18 beneficiaries while Ngerenya Mixed Jilore and Dungicha could only contribute one student each. Why the huge difference? Is it due to unawareness, favour or just by chance? I really don’t know.

The road connecting my home and the office is tar-marked. Unfortunately, its condition is no longer pleasant. On my return journey, the vehicle I bordered was almost involved in a serious accident. After a little rain, the road became excessively slippery, causing our vehicle to slide towards one side where pedestrians were. It was just due to the grace of the lord that the driver regained control without hurting anyone. Surprisingly, my leaders have never realized that and if they have, then they are either pleased with its condition or still busy with other theoretical ghost projects.

Bye My Pastor

My dear pastor, Raphael Kenga Sokota to be precise, and the entire Calvary Baptist church family;

I am going back to school today. In fact I am on my way now. The holiday was abnormally long, that you may possibly have forgotten where I school, or even the fact that I am still a student. Worry not, I will remind you.

In Rift Valley, a few kilometers past Eldoret town, there is a public university. It is called Moi. You may be surprised why I mentioned the name of a former president. Cool. This is not a person, it is an institution named after him- I dont even know why. The main campus of that university is where I am heading to.

In 2011, the institution sent me a letter through my former high school. It was called 'calling letter'. I was told if I go there, I would spend some four years then come back home with a degree. I agreed and went.

Unfortunately, my university did not keep its promise. It kept on sending me home, calling me back, until I got bored. Four years are not over and I have had six breaks so far. They call them holidays. I wonder how holy those days are.

The most recent one began in mid October last year. Moi told me to come back home briefly then when I left, it forgot that I had not completed my studies yet. I have stayed at home for over eight months now. I forgot everything that I learnt for the past three academic years, but that does not concern you pastor, I will sort myself.

Concerning our church, It is definite that you, in my absence, must look for a replacement. A guitarist that will fit into my shoes, do his/her magic to produce the lowest musical sound, "Duuu! Tu-du-duuu.. Tu-duuu!"

I know the pianists are available in plenty. In fact I retired from playing the piano because so many other youths had already trained to near perfection, though not to my level. As for the bass guitar, I dont know, but I have left a void. I spent a lot of time convincing brothers and sisters-in-Christ to learn how to play the guitar but they all refused, claiming that it is tiresome and painful to the fingers, which is very true.

Have you now understood why you may be forced to hire a skilled guitarist every Sunday and especially when the band wins a contract of performing in a ceremony? If you think I am joking, wait and compare the quality of yesterday's music to that which you will hear next Sunday.

For the past two weeks, I have been showing Kitsao how to switch on the laptop, play music, type documents and shut it down. You wont have much trouble on that. As for the newly acquired mixer, Alfred is quite conversant with its operation- he always watched every time I touched a button. He will be responsible as the operator and in case he encounters a problem, he has my phone numbers.

The bride-to-be, Miss Peris Katana, whose wedding ceremony is scheduled to take place on 20th December, is also aware of my departure and she is not happy. If you get time, cool her down. Yesterday I appointed Walter Kazungu to take over my responsibilities. He will be the patron. I trust in his abilities so the petboys will not complain.

Mathias Randu will act as the youth choir master untill I come back. His voice is almost like mine. He is also aware that for a song to sound melodious, he must categorize the singers' voices into atleast four- soprano, alto, tenor and bass.
What else have I forgotten? Oooh... Yes! In the second Sunday of every month, I am usually the first preacher and program facilitator in third Sundays. You will forgive me because I forgot to hand over these roles to someone else. But dont blame me much, I am also a human being. Maybe I give you a suggestion. Just appoint Pendo (Gye Peshy).
All the announcements have always been made by myself because you, the church, gave me that duty. Thank you. Now that I am going, my assistants, Peterson and Alfred will take over. Even the chairman Mr. Bundi can do it.
Let me just stop there, but not without appreciating you. Thank you for the farewell you organized in my absence and implemented in my presence. I received a couple of presents from brethren that day, especially coins and notes. Let me just say it- the total amount was slightly above Ksh. 1,700. You are great people, God bless you abundantly!
Once I get to campus tomorrow morning, I shall always remember the many memorable moments we shared during my holiday. I will always pray to God that all of us stay alive and well until our next reunion- I dont know when!

Byeeeee....!!!

Exactly what brings success?

This boy comes from a poor background in my village. He thanks the free primary education, a certain previous government initiative, otherwise he would not have known what 3+2 equals to.

Charo, 18, is a bright boy who speaks my native language. He is counting days before sitting for his KCSE examination this year, beginning October- thanks to the scholarship bursaries and support from relatives that have pushed him through in his local high school.

However, this aspiring nurse admits to undergo a little psychological unrest and this is where my interest was baited.

Charo believes in his abilities. His aim is to get a mean grade of 'A' plain if his dream of becoming a medic has to come true. This, according to him, would not disturb him if he were 'somewhere else'.

He thinks his school might betray him. According to statistics, the highest grade the institution has ever produced is B plain and that was 2007. Should history repeat itself, then he will be forced to give up on nursing and probably opt for another degree programme.

Charo blames no one for this but the situation. As he struggles in his small school, others are 'relaxed' in larger institutions such as Starehe, Mangu, Alliance, among others, where an 'A' is almost guaranteed for each candidate registered under their names. At one point in life, I also found myself in such fears.

When I was in form four in 2009, at St. Georges High School, the top ten students based on merit from the first term's examination results in each form were given a motivational present by the then principal, Mr. Vitallis Majeni. It was called 'achievers' trip'. The 40 of us were taken for an academic tour to Starehe Boys Center and School in Nairobi, in order to learn what makes its students always perform better than us.

According to me, the objective of the tour was never met. The only lesson I learnt from it was that I was inferior to them. I reaped an element of cowardice and complete eradication of my prior confidence. I kept wondering if, with just a few months remaining, I was going to be ready enough to compete with the boys I had just interacted with in a common national examination.

Starehe is among many schools in Kenya whose major aim is to manufacture more grade A's than any other school so as to be ranked the best in the country. Principals and subject teachers will do anything in their powers to achieve this. For this reason, Charo considers students in such schools as almost guaranteed the highest possible grades, unlike him, and he is not happy about it.

The result of this is an education system that drifts from the expected purpose of imparting competitive knowledge to students. They are now taught how to pass exams. At the end, they become 'bright on paper'. Holders of glittering certificates but bearers of empty brains. People who cannot relate the education they have with common logic and realities of life. They know the correct answers to Physics or Geography questions but no not understand why those answers are correct.

The real effect will be felt in future, especially if this scenario diffuses into universities and colleges. With the emergence of numerous institutions of higher learning, both private and public, negative competition may start to show up. The country may therefore be preparing for an era of professionals with less competence than expected.

Back to the high school thing, the question that one may easily ask is, "Are schools up to providing quality education to students or generating maximum grade A's in order to attain supremacy?" However, my question is different, with reference to Charo' imaginations. Should a student's success be determined by his/her effort or the institution?

Practical or Absent?

The aim of any institution of higher learning is to train individuals, impart them with the required practical skills that would enable them work in their respective fields of specialization thereafter with utmost competence. This objective cuts across universities, colleges, polytechnics, among others, in a bid to maintain a continuous transition among professional working classes from generation to generation and even improve the same. Moi University, being one of the high ranking public universities in the country, is not an exception, or at least should not be an exception.

I study Bachelor of Science in Media Science, a degree programme which, according to the faculty, is designed to produce competent media professionals to work in the print and the electronic media industry. A course that is tailored to produce graduates who can work in the field and also be effective managers of media institutions; a course that has been developed and designed to meet increased demand for personnel with specialized skills and knowledge in the various aspects of the media industry. Teaching methods, still according to the faculty, consist of lectures, seminars, practicals using equipment commonly used in the media industry, written assignments, project work, field visits, individual reading, research, problem solving and practical attachment. Is this description not enough to make a potential ECD teacher push for a course change in favour of this one? Trust me, it happened!

When I first heard that my third year’s second semester would include at least one practical course, I almost pronounced the end of theoretical training. I knew I would now not only sit down and listen to lengthy narratives but also do something with a hand involvement for MES 322 - Video and Radio Production. How I had been longing for such a moment when I would proudly participate in such activities! Despite all the sweet-sounding descriptions attached to my programme, the only things whose existence I can never doubt are lectures and written assignments. For the past three years of study, I surely have gone through plenty of them – I am grateful for that.

Talking about practical teaching using equipment commonly used in the media, I would say that maybe the course is still undergoing revision and reshaping to include this aspect in the future. Sincerely, I have never gone through such a vital experience. One day, Ronald McAgak and I decided to give it a test. Agak happens to be one of my classmates from lake-side. Ooh I had not said it; he quitted ECD and joined media in 2011! So we walked into our department office and asked for a camera. There was nothing to surprise any of us because what we heard was something we expected. They didn’t have films and it would take time for them to be located and dust-wiped because it was long since they were last used. This further justified my suspicion that my programme description is merely meant for publicity, to attract more potential students.

I had mentioned something about MES 322, that ‘practical’ course! Well, Miss Ruth Simam is the lecturer who was assigned the task of taking us through video and radio production. Of course it would look more awkward if it was also going to be theoretically taught, with the presence of such courses as Media production, Radio &T.V production and Radio &T.V communication in the same semester, all which are taught through narratives!

Beside MES 322, Simam was also assigned two other courses to take us through, apart from the ‘countless’ others she lectures to the first, second and fourth years. The lady deserves to be credited. She did her best in making sure that we get to know that there is a course called MES 322. She also mentioned about Adobe Premere, which is a software collection of editing programs for video, audio, images e.t.c. I remember her trying to install this software in some of the publishing lab computers, although none of them accepted it. How then were we supposed to do the practicals if the computers are not even used to such programs? Nothing serious transpired thereafter, although I recall her giving group assignments for project work, that’s all!

The only course that was meant to be a practical one therefore translated into being an ‘absent’ one. But it is better than the Magazine Publishing one, whose lecturer could not even see the essence of it being assigned four hours in a week. For him, three hours per semester was all he needed and he was done! I don’t know whether this one can be better than the Research Methods, the course whose facilitator would spend an hour trying to make us understand the importance of the course itself! I also know about another one, Media Production. The lecturer began by confessing his reluctance to give out notes. At the end of the day, he had given out the highest number of hand-outs! Still there is something called Subject Indexing and Thesaurus whatever! I don’t even know what to say about that. I will talk about it next time.

Those examples are enough; I am now preparing to start a 7-month long holiday before resuming for my final year of study. I will always pray that in that fourth year, the number of practical courses will probably exceed the number of absent ones.

Naisubiri Siku Hiyo

Iwapo kuna siku ya hivi karibuni ninayoingojea kwa hamu na ghamu katika chuo hiki, si nyengine bali ni tarehe sita mwezi ujao wa Septemba.  Tukio ambalo ninalitarajia kwa matamanio makubwa, linaloufanya moyo wangu ukose subira, ni lile la uchaguzi.

Siku hiyo kulingana na ninavyoitabiria, itakuwa muhimu na iliyosheheni shughuli chungu nzima. Nikiwa miongoni mwa maelfu ya wanagenzi wa chuo hiki cha Moi bewa kuu, nitaahirisha shughuli zote ambazo ningepania kuzitekeleza siku hiyo hata kama ni kwa muda tu, ili kuitumia fursa hiyo kuwachagua viongozi wapya watakaoshikilia nafasi mbali mbali katika uongozi wa muungano wa wanafunzi.

Sababu kadhaa zinanishawishi na kuifanya shughuli hiyo ya uchaguzi kuwa yenye umuhimu mkubwa katika maisha yangu kama mwanafunzi wa chuo hiki. Kwanza ni haki ya kidemokrasia. Ikiwa kilio changu cha chini kwa chini kila uchao, cha kutaka haki nyenginezo za msingi kama vile maisha bora kitaendelea kugonga mgongo wa kobe, basi hii nina uhakika wa kuifurahia kwani ni haki isiyohitaji kilio kuipata. Hakuna ajuaye, pengine nitakayemchagua siku hiyo ndiye mkombozi aliyetabiriwa na Yohana mbatizaji na manabii wa kale kwamba atakuja kuniondolea masaibu ya muda.

Pili ni kwamba ninahitaji kutawalwa na kiongozi ninayemuenzi, niliyemkabidhi mamlaka mwenyewe kupitia kura yangu. Iwapo nitaamua kulipa kisogo zoezi la uchaguzi, uamuzi huo usio wa busara hautakuwa na manufaa yoyote kwangu, ila utafananishwa na kujitemea mate usoni mwangu mwenyewe. Nishiriki au nisishiriki, viongozi sharti watachaguliwa na kuanza kazi mara moja. Hapo ndipo nitakapojigundua kumbe mimi ni mtu ‘hivi hivi’, jambo ambalo siku zote nitaishi kujutia hasa viongozi hao watakapoanza kwenda fyongo na kutoyashughulikia maslahi yangu kikamilifu, kinyume na matarajio yangu. Hata ikiwa watafanya vizuri, pia sitakuwa na chochote cha kujivunia kwa ajili yao, nikizingatia kwamba sikuhusika kivyovyote katika kuwachagua.

Kwa mantiki hiyo basi siwezi kamwe kukosa kuivaa mzima mzima shughuli hiyo ijayo ya kukata na shoka. Ikiwa sababu zote hizo hazitoshi, naweka nadhiri ya kuziongeza wakati mwengine. Cha msingi ni kwamba naisubiri siku hiyo kama nilivyoisubiri ile ya tarehe nne mwezi Machi mwaka huu. Swala la iwapo zoezi zima litaendeshwa kwa njia ya kielektroniki au la; kwa foleni au kupitia mtandao; kwa muda mrefu au mfupi; hayo si majukumu yangu. Nina imani na maafisa wa tume huru ya uchaguzi wanaotazamiwa kutajwa hivi karibuni kwamba watalivalia njuga swala zima na kuandaa uchaguzi wa aina yake. Ninachoomba mimi ni uchaguzi uwe wa haki na uwazi jinsi ule wa uraisi ulivyodaiwa kuwa.

Kwa sasa nimeamua kutia masikio nta na kuzifanya zipite juu ya hewa, tetesi kwamba mikutano ya kikabila imeanza kushuhudiwa yenye malengo ya kusimamisha wagombea kwa misingi ya kikabila. Ninachofahamu fika ni kwamba kiongozi yeyote atakayechaguliwa lazima atatoka katika kabila fulani lolote lile. Hivyo basi, nimejifunza tangu utotoni kutojisumbua na wasiwasi wa aina yoyote wa kikabila, kijinsia au kimaeneo kwani binadamu wote ni sawa mbele za Mungu na yeyote anaweza kutunukiwa zawadi ya uongozi. Isitoshe, ninaotaka ni uongozi bora na utapatikana tu ikiwa viongozi watakuwa bora. Je, si wale wa kabila fulani ndio wanaojua ni mtu yupi wao aliye bora?

Hatimaye ninaelekeza dua kwa mwengezi Mungu azidi kunineemesha neema ndogo-ndogo na neema kubwa-kubwa, niweze kuendelea kupumua kwa pumzi yake mwenyewe hadi siku hiyo ya tarehe sita. Pia nawaombea baraka viongozi wote wanaoondoka mamlakani na kheri njema maishani mwao pindi watakapostaafu rasmi. Waendeleze talanta zao za uongozi walizoonyesha wakiwa madarakani kwa muda huo mrefu mno kulingana na katiba ya uongozi. Lakini zaidi ya yote mie nitazidi kushikilia tisti msimamo wangu wa kuisubiri siku hiyo!