RIOTING CANNOT SOLVE HIGH UNIVERSITY FEES

Tuesday,11/11/2008

NOVEMBER 6TH WAS a special day for Kenyans and indeed Africans the world over as the first black man of Kenyan origin became president of the most powerful country on earth.

Consequently, President Emilio Mwai Kibaki declared a national public holiday for Kenyans to celebrate the fact that their own son, Barack Hussein Obama a Luo man with origins from Kogelo in Kenya was voted president of the United States of America.

Across the East African region people spent a sleepless night celebrating the fall of key swing states to the Democratic candidate. Cheering, clapping, dancing and all sorts of excitement were the order of the day in Kenya and Uganda. In short, this was a day for contentment.

However Kenyan students at Makerere University in Uganda received this victory with mixed feelings, and instead of joining fellow country men to jubilate, they decided to take to the streets what they dubbed a discriminative action by the university administration against them.

The students blamed Makerere for charging them higher tuition, and functional fees compared to their Ugandan counterparts.

I thought it would be rationale to blame leaders of the East African Community for failing to settle such fee disparities in the regional institutions of learning. There has been much talk about streamlining fees for all students in the East African region, but it seems walking that talk is becoming difficult or even impossible.

I don’t think the university administration or even the Ugandan government shows any disfavour for the international students or Kenyans for that matter. But if there were such bad turn, well the law allows peaceful demonstration with the knowledge of law enforcement bodies like the police.

The Kenyan students’ riot I must say posed a big threat to the university administrative staff as they blocked the main gate and the entrance to the main building where most staff including the Vice Chancellor sits. In fact their display made it appear as though their demand was not genuine because they couldn’t even listen to any explanation during a meeting with the Vice Chancellor and the Kenyan Deputy High Commission Mr. Gitongo.

By booing and jeering at the commissioner, these young ladies and gentlemen made high the suspicion that some one could be trying to use them for the wrong reason – in the words of the Vice chancellor Prof. Livingstone Luboobi.

In fact a keen look at students who commanded the riot gave one an impression that their reason was not quite authentic.

First, their number was not convincing; they were few and scattered despite the great number of Kenyan students at the Campus. This makes one think the idea was possibly not fully supported. Secondly, from their faces and mood, you could easily tell that liquor was at work. Worse still, the employment of a petrol bomb even raises more serious questions.

It was the appearance of the rioters that made me believe what a Kenyan friend had earlier told me; that the riot was planned by those who spent the sleepless night at the bar drinking as they enjoyed the U.S vote results.

It is important to note that the problem of fees increments at Makerere this year affected every body. Even government-sponsored students were asked to pay more functional fees, on top of the state contribution, including paying for accommodation and feeding by themselves next semester if the proposed cost sharing decision is passed.

Ugandan private students petitioned parliament for the same. Thus, international students who think the cost is being bent their side are simply either being uninformed about the facts on the ground, or chasing a unique deal.

Yet in comparison to other universities in the region, Makerere is still among the cheapest even with the meager increments being contested.

Nairobi University College of Science recently amplified their tuition from Kshs93,000(about Ugshs2.2m) to a record Kshs540,000(about Ugshs12.9m) for national students per year.

Foreign students at Makerere pay an average of just 1.8m per year, which is pea nuts compared to what Kenyan nationals pay at Nairobi University;

At Moi University, citizen students part with Kshs200,000(about Ugshs4.8m) per year on average for tuition. Meanwhile Kenyatta University tuition for Kenyans is Kshs86,000(about Ugshs2.1m) on average which is still much higher than what Makerere demands, and yet all these universities also have different fees structures for students from other countries. They also have functional fees.

Therefore, instead of rioting and plotting to destroy structures and disorganise individuals in the administration, it would be wise for students to find a bigger platform beyond the office of a mere employee in the capacity of the Vice chancellor to table such grievances. I believe it’s high time leaders of the East African Federation are put to task on matters pertaining education in the region.