Since 1963 consecutive regimes follow the same script, fuata nyayo so to say. The script goes: “the ordinary citizen is an idiot. He or she is to be TOLD but never LISTENED to!”
KUAMBIWA bila KWUSKILIZWA!
The STATUS QUO will spend millions to build markets force people into those markets, the traders run away since there are no customers coming there, the project fails and the STATUS QUO or GOVT. OF THE DAY will then blame the trader for the failure.
The hawker or trader then retorts , “si mngetwuuliza tuwambie kwanza, tu suggest , twuskilizane, mahali mzuri na mjenge jinsi tutatoshea sisi wote bila mvurugano! Sasa mmejenga hata hatujui hizo sheds zinapatianwa aje ama kwa nani, hatutoshei na customer hawezi kuja hio njia yote! Ni mbali sana na customer!”
Hata Kibaki alianguka mtihani kabisa na Muthurwa though he was a good leader.
The same script is repeated in hospitals that are built hundreds of km. away from residents… wamama wanajifungulia kwa njia… or schools like this one here below where some officials come in and dump millions worth of electronic training equipment and then disappear . They never bothered to even find out where the students will be sleeping. They never bothered to even seat down with the community and understand what courses the youths there would like to pertake; or even what courses guarantee employment within the community after their studies. Yaani what courses will impact the community the most.
Na vijana wakikosa kazi baadaye wanaambiwa ni shida yao! Na mshalipa school fees. All our universities practically fall in these quagmire. They just wake up and announce tomorrow we will start teaching law.
When you don’t involve people directly they cannot OWN or LOVE or APPRECIATE a public project.
I once saw a documentary of a small town in Japan where two past mayors had been completely unable to build a community center due to the huge costs involved. The community center would include small shops and a mall, a movie theatre, yoga classes, spas etc. Something to regenerate the community and bring in much needed cash. The third mayor in line brought in the whole community and for several months they deliberated together. Wanakosana, wanatukanana, wanapigana hadi mwishowe wanaskizana and they even shake hands. It’s not a pretty process. The mayor was called a thug many a times.
But he then realized that a sizeable majority of the residents in that town were on wheels and didn’t walk.
Majority of the residents were old or ageing or newly wedded young couples with toddlers in prams. The old had walkers canes or motorized wheelchairs. So the whole community center could just be built as a single story building with ramps and no stairs and save a lot of money.
The whole community chipped in with ideas and the project was actually completed at a fraction of the original cost with numerous cost effective changes and the place was a roaring success. The guy got re-elected.
I’ve also seen an Arabian emir, a king moving around the villages in village bazaars and he talks to subjects as if they are his own relatives. By the time that emir leaves that village they even know what the guy discussed with Trump the previous week. They know how much oil was sold in the first quarter of the year. They know which mosque will get a facelift first. The emir even knows there’s an outbreak of diarrhea in a certain quarter of the town… yaani involved leadership. Hata mkifanya project it can’t fail because you are on the same page. No hidden hands. No suspicions. Hata hatembei na bodyguards wengi and he eats with the citizens.
I have also seen Kagame a dictator talking to his subjects in round tables about ordinary stuff. Listening to ideas, answering questions. Very heated debates over common problems. Na wanatatua.
Ukikuja Kenya. The equivalent of such bazaars na mwuitwe mkutano msomewe speech kama watoto! No ideas gathered. Ni kuambiwa tu. I have seen hawkers in the markets launched recently wamezipokea lakini ni shingo upande. Choo hazitoshi. Choo za walemavu hakuna. The roofs are too low… kwani how hard is it to just involve these people in that project from the start?
Ndio STATUS QUO waibe vizuri bila kujulikana. With community involvement kushikwa ni rahisi sana. Because the community will first ask, “budget inatoshana aje Mheshimiwa Waiguru?”
[SIZE=7]Multi-million shilling facilities idle as youth snub craft courses[/SIZE]
By Jacinta Mutura
Published: Aug 10th 2018 at 23:01, Updated: August 10th 2018 at 23:01
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/images/friday/pmhydburmfq6chslkx95b6deeefd905d.jpgJohn Warui attends to engineering equipment at a Laikipia East Technical and Vocational College lab. The multi-million shilling equipment is lying idle for lack of students. [Jacinta Mutura, Standard]
A walk on the hallways of Laikipia East Technical and Vocational College evokes feelings of isolation.
This ambitious institution that should be brimming with life has instead become a pale shadow of what it was meant to be.
Its halls that are supposed to be noisy due to clanking of machinery are silent.
Comfortable seats placed next to each control dashboard to enhance a relaxed environment for students during practical lessons for electrical engineering classes are a pointer to what should actually be happening.
Gathering dust
A demonstration desk is the focal point of the room with a new projector, covered computer monitor and a projection whiteboard suspended on the wall for lectures.
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The impressive arrangement of the apparatus in the spacious workroom has not been interrupted seven months after the facility was opened.
The image of the lab replicates in other three workrooms at the facility which from outside appears to have much to offer but it just mesmerises since it is yet to serve its purpose.
Some machines are still in cartons in the facility’s stores, others are accumulating dust in the lecture rooms.
John Warui, a store keeper, spends much of his day keeping watch and wiping the dust off the multi-million equipment meant for electrical and electronic engineering.
“This is what I do every day. I report in the morning to check on the equipment and make rounds to ensure they are safe.
"It is unfortunate that this facility has everything students would require but none have enrolled,” Warui says.
Equipment worth Sh160 million lie idle at the facility as students shun technical and craft courses. The vocational college can take in 500 students.
A similar establishment lies at Posta in Mouwarak in Laikipia North. The school is fully equipped and Sh140 million was pumped in for renovation.
Prospective students
A Sh150 million equipment for training in mechanical engineering lies idle at the institution as there are no students.
Although the two facilities are located about 20 metres from the road, prospective students identified their location as a key constraints leading to failure on enrollments.
Despite millions pumped into the centres, accommodation for students was not considered. The Government has no plans to build hostels.
The one in Mouwarak is located on the Rumuruti-Maralal highway while the one in Laikipia East is located at Marina on Nyeri-Nyahururu Highway, where residential buildings are a major challenge.
Courses the institutions should be offering include electrical and electronic engineering, mechanical engineering, building technology, cooperative management and information communication technology (ICT), all at artisan, craft and diploma levels.
Concerned with the situation, Governor Ndiritu Muriithi has rolled out plans to market the institutions in an effort to put into use the gigantic facilities.
The county boss intends to utilise the August holidays to lure youths from across the county through a campaign dubbed Rapid Improvement Programme in Education (RIPE).
The month-long campaign is targeting to enroll 1,000 students to the two institutes.
“We agreed with school heads to use more social strategies to attract students.
"They should make announcement in churches, family meetings, social gatherings and hold sessions with school leavers to enlighten and encourage them to enroll,” said Muriithi.
Community meetings have been arranged in Mkogodo West and Mkogodo East areas to market the courses in the villages.
Form-four leavers have been asked to carry their result slips to the meetings for enrollment.
Speaking at a Maasai cultural event in Arjijo, elites from the community pledged to scout for at least 100 youngsters from the region and see them join the institutions.
Idle youth
Governor Murithi has urged parents to encourage their children to enrol for these clases instead of idling around.
He said skills in plumbing, carpentry, welding and mechanics are in high demand.
Lack of hostels, the governor said, is an opportunity for investors to build residential houses for students.
Simon Ngatia, the principal of Laikipia East Technical College, attributed the near nil enrollment to stigmatisation of technical institutions as places for those who fail to attain qualifications to join university.
“The workshops and laboratories are fully equipped for training but the institutes are crying for students.
Technical institutes are not meant for Standard Eight leavers but anyone who wants to pursue the courses offered,” Murithi said.
To encourage enrollment, the national Government has introduced a Sh30,000 capitation for every needy student joining technical institutes, and reduced the annual fee to Sh56,420.
Paying the remaining Sh26,420 has also been made easy as those eligible for loans can get as much as Sh40,000 from the Higher Education Loan Board (HELB).
Needy students could also get bursaries from the board.
Meanwhile, statistics from the county reveal shocking details on transition gaps from primary to secondary education levels.
Laikipia County Statistical Abstract indicates that in 2017, only 590 students enrolled in the 10 technical training institutes (formerly called youth polytechnics) despite each of them being capable of holding at least 400.
Among the enrolled 590 students, 443 were male. Only 147 females were admitted in the same year.
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