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Friday, January 28, 2011

AM GOING TO BE A MANAGER….WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

By Felix Okaka
I am happy to note that when I finished primary school, I never dreamt of being either a neurosurgeon or an aeronautical engineer. It was actually during a boring agriculture lesson back in high school that I dreamt of being a lawyer (note ‘agriculture’). Unfortunately the Joint Admissions Board thought I should join the Bsc. Information Science program. I have not yet seen the Science in Information but that is a topic for another day.
This is meant for you at the dusk of the 8-4-4 system .Please note that I am not talking about those who subscribed to the wrong education tariff i.e. 8-4-5 and 8-4-6 for our engineers and doctors respectively. Please refer to the terms and conditions if there are any because I believe you were shortchanged. However, you only have yourselves to blame. You are the ones that filled our national dailies with your names when the KCSE results came out only to find yourselves reading even more in campus.
As for the slightly above average students, we were licensed to join campus and spend 12 out of our 16 weeks of our academic semester learning how to consume Napoleon; the closest bottled up relative to chang’aa. I’d imagine a combination of the two would sum up to an incestuous concoction. We also took the time to prove that with a “Yes We Can” attitude we can cohabit on a 2 by 6 ft bed in Hostel K and Yes We Can.
After a grueling 16 year career in Studenthood, coupled with last minute reading for exams, at last we have a chance to apply our knowledge and skills in the KTN (Kenya Tarmacking Network); the biggest unemployment firm in Kenya. Skills acquired include the writing of application letters. After consulting my almost blank BLL 116 (Art of Writing) book.
Dear Sir/Madam
I am a very observant student. This is evidenced by my ability to watch 60 out of 64 games that graced our screens during the World Cup and my ability to observe that Romina does not deserve Emiliano but Paloma does.
I work with minimal supervision and most importantly work best under pressure. This is evidenced by my ability to summarize all my coursework in illegible and microscopic form-otherwise known as mwakenya or mwax and still manage to refer to ‘my notes’ during the exams without batting an eyelid regardless of the presence or absence of an invigilator.
My lecturer assured me that I would become a manager in your firm and for emphasis I would again state A MANAGER IN YOUR FIRM. I am looking forward to filling that position. After all, when and yes only when, I happen to go abroad (including to Uganda) for further studies it is rumored that I, as a Kenyan Student, would rank among the best students effortlessly.
Attached is my CV which is justifiably blank due to reasons explained above. To juggle your memory I would say “It’s Time for Africa” vis-à-vis “Afro Cinema continues shortly” and embarrassingly “El Cuerpo Del Deseo” occupied large chunks of my holiday. I hereby take this opportunity to pose the questions, “Kwani what are holidays for? You mean you wanted me to do something constructive?”
I am waiting for a reply and hoping it does not take as long as the Second Coming of Ocampo.
Yours Expectantly,
8-4-4 Graduate.

ARE TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANIES GAMBLING WITH HUMAN LIFE?

By Bryan Tumwa
Students in Moi University Main Campus have been dragged straight into the raging debate on whether telecommunication masts are harmful to human beings. This follows the installation of a mast believed to belong to one of the leading cell phone companies, Safaricom, on top of one of hostel H. The timing of the installation was also suspicious as it was done right at the close of the previous semester.
However, the real issue here is the electromagnetic emissions and the unbearable buzzing noise that rings constantly throughout the day and at night. The question begs: why was the mast placed right on top of a students’ hall of residence with no thought whatsoever given to the health implications of the entire project?
What is even more shocking is a revelation in one campus publication that a senior administration official, in whose docket the renovations in hostels fall, claimed he was not privy to the installation.
At a time when debate is still raging on whether cell towers are safe to be within close proximity to human settlements, it should only be prudent that residential areas should be avoided when choosing their location.
Dr Bitange Ndemo, Kenya’s Information PS, has been quoted in the past saying that rapid growth of the telecommunications industry poses environmental and health concerns. According to Business Daily Africa, CCK has already signed an agreement with the Radiation Protection Board under the Ministry of Public Health to address the challenge while joint countrywide surveys are being carried out on Base Transmitter Stations and other communication infrastructure.
As Kenya waits for an official medical perspective, health professionals in various countries have ascertained that some people are sensitive to non- ionizing radiation which poses complicated health risks. In Europe, for example, many young people are developing cancer and the common denominator of their suffering, apart from the cancer itself, is the long-term exposure to phone masts. Other short-term mobile phone mast studies have also found significant health effects such as headaches, dizziness, depression, fatigue, sleep disorder, difficulty in concentration and cardiovascular problems.
In 2005, a study in the UK by the Environmental Health Perspectives disputed the claim that phone masts could be harmful to people who live close to them but stressed that people were nonetheless suffering real symptoms. The experiment funded by telecommunication companies and the UK government was however challenged by Campaign group, Mast Sanity, who said the results were skewed as 12 people in the trials dropped out because of illness.
For as long as the controversy over telecommunication masts lasts, only one thing is for sure, human life is at stake. The most immediate worry for hostel H residents is the noise that the mast generates causes students sleepless nights and an agonizing stay in their quarters. This is a case of something we all know is meant to benefit us in terms of the conveniences it offers, but the cost is too great to bear.
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(The writer is a third year Media Science student)
Telecommunication companies still insist that the masts are harmless but for the sake of people’s health and longevity, the industry should be careful not to make human beings guinea pigs in the quest to resolve the what ifs of the deadly microwave emitters.

EXPECTATATIONS OF THE YEAR 2011

By Brian Tumwa
This year seems to have taken off fast, typical of every January. As times and seasons change, so do behaviours and the course that guides many a people’s lives. It is therefore a time of newness and renewal.
This semester has not proven to be any different judging from the way things are turning out to be. Firstly, the turnout at the beginning of the semester was unenthusiastic to say the least. The lecture halls remained shut despite the fact that it had been more than a week since the semester officially began. Whether it has anything to do with it being the beginning of a new year remains to be seen.
2011 is the year we get to cross over to year two of the second decade since the new millennium began. It has many pointers that stretch far beyond campus.
To the North-west of Kenya, the Sudanese are holding a first time political exercise that could leave their country divided right in the middle in a secession bid to separate the South from the North. The consequences are varied, from the return of refugees from neighbouring countries to the possible upwelling of violence due to conflicts regarding the sharing of oil revenue between the north and the south. There’s also the question of how the newborn in the community of nations that form Africa would be able to sustain itself in terms of logistics in forming a new administration and the frameworks it needs to support itself with like a constitution.
Back home, it is not such a promising year for farmers and herders as La Nina looms large. The whole country is covered with dust and the skies are radiating with scorching heat that threatens to burn life out of the living. Kenya being an agriculturally dependent country, it calls for urgent measures to prevent the occurrence of starvation and the dwindling of the economy. It makes many a Kenyan hold their breath and hope that yet again the government will not perfect its wait and see stance, that turns an early warning into a confused alarm call in the wake of an ‘emergency’ everyone saw coming.
It may also be the year when the so called nine lives of several veteran politicians run out. The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission has its guns directed towards several cabinet ministers with one already being tried in the high court for gross abuse of office. The embattled former Industrialization minister and Member of Parliament for Tinderet is also facing international criminal charges in connection with the 2007 post election violence. If found guilty of any of these charges, Mr. Kosgey will be automatically excluded from participating in any political activity in the country in keeping with the new constitution. Others are William Ruto facing land fraud charges, Moses Wetang’ula facing the charge of embezzlement of funds in the embassy scandal in his ministry and Charity Ngilu who is yet to vacate office for practicing nepotism in her water ministry.
For the rest of the public who have lives to live, may you have a rewarding semester.

ALCOHOL LAW A SHAM

By Bryan W. Tumwa
When the alcohol control law was suspended, thanks to a high court ruling on Friday, beer lovers had all the right to be happy. This is, however, not a permanent thing as the only reason it was put on hold was as a result of some liquor brewers who argued that the law stipulated that the industry had a grace period of 9 months before which to fully comply.
The war on drugs at the coast also took a dramatic turn with the PC asking law enforcers in the region not to arrest people who use the contraband drugs in public. The fight to control the substances people use is again proving to be a lost one.
All over the world, the war on drugs and alcohol abuse has been fought on different fronts and the winners have always been the users. By winners, I do not mean that the use of illegal drugs and consumption of illicit liquor is of any laudable benefit, but that the lengths that people will go just to experience ‘the high’ will always be a notch higher than the efforts to curtail them.
No matter how many nice things drop out of a bag of trash, it will always be exactly that- a bag of trash.
In effect, the law to control the consumption of alcohol is laughable to even think of. Apart from it spelling bad business for the traders and manufacturers, it provides another burden for the police to ensure that these rules are followed. The sheer number of people being taken to court as a result of breaking this law proves exactly that. The rebellion is rampant and it is not going to go away any time soon. Furthermore, the police fall under the most notorious government department when it comes to corruption. The enforcement of this law to the letter will mean that the war will be fought on two fronts- that of corruption and that of enforcement.
Looking at it from another perspective, the law on alcoholic drinks is going to be at loggerheads with the new constitution, especially when we consider the rights and freedoms contained in the bill of rights. The law infringed on is the consumer right whichstipulates that consumers have the right to goods and services of reasonable quality. Now, if the organs of government are responsible for rationing consumption, then the law in itself is aborted. What the government should be monitoring is only the quality of the products delivered to consumers either by public entities or by private persons and not when and how it is done. Very soon, the government will have so many grips on the lives of citizens that fundamental economic, social and political rights are going to be further curtailed.
Apartheid, for instance, dictated that members of the black race were not to purchase goods and services from certain designated white shops. This meant that the two races were not to interact in the same economic environment. This restriction is not far placed from that facing the alcohol takers in Kenya. Restricting them to specific times when to consume the product is derogatory to the public. For as long as there is no crime being committed or in is the process of being committed, the behavior of individuals should not warrant government scrutiny.
I am sure that whatever action the government takes is in good faith and that there are probably one or two good things in the Alcohol Control Act. However, no matter how many nice things drop out of the occasional bag of trash, it does not change the label on the bag. It will always be exactly that- a bag of trash.

IT’S TIME TO TAKE CHARGE

Bryan W. Tumwa draws vital lessons from Tom and Jerry, and a recent matatu incident he encountered
Growing up I used to be much excited by Fred Quimby’s animation series- Tom and Jerry. What got me so glued to the screen is the often malicious plots by the mouse (Jerry) to displace the cat (Tom) from the helm of the house. The conflict played out to my expectation of balance of nature where the rodent and the feline being, sworn enemies, battle for supremacy in the big house which naturally had room for one of either kind and not both. However, the fact that Jerry always had the edge got me unsettled. It did not satisfy my moral expectation of the villain pitted against the enforcement of right and wrong. A rather obvious way of things would suggest that with time the cat could wise up and be more assertive, but as it were, the cat was always a step behind the witty mouse.
Most people find themselves in such situations in their journey through life and often suffer the consequences of their lack of assertiveness. They may not know it or may realize it, but they let their fear or lack of tact derail them.
The other day I was travelling from Eldoret to Campus and something unique really touched me. The conductor came to collect the fares after the van was full and as would seem usual, he charged every person sh.100 and not a single person from the front of the van to the back thought anything of it. However, when he was taking the money from a gentleman seated at the farthest corner, the guy calmly asked for his change. The conductor tried to intimidate him by asking him to alight and find a cheaper means but the guy insisted that the amount was a rip off and everyone should be refunded their fair share of the money charged. The argument started to accumulate heat and finally the heat seemed too much for the cornered conductor and he finally gave in. He had to walk for about 500m while we were stuck in the jam to find enough change so that everyone in the van got sh.20 back. Needles to say no one said thank you.
However, what caught my attention is the fact that there are people who would just sit there (I included) and do nothing in a situation like this while there are others who would not tolerate such malevolence. This case cannot be explained from the point of view of being able to part with an extra 20 shillings just because one has the ability to rise much more than that, but the most people would just be comfortable to play it safe.
This tendency has led to a situation where the way we are governed as a country is left to the few in the civil rights movements. Most Kenyans just contend to watch news and shake their heads and contend in being apathetic. The days where the nation would be seen to demand accountability started to wane when the voices of those in higher institutions of learning were reduced to whispers and most of the time disinterest. In such a young democracy, it should all start with the few who are enlightened and the universities and colleges are not lacking in them. Tribal sentiments and ethnic solidarity should not have a place in our campuses since there’s already enough of it in the primitive parts of our society. It is a unique moment in the country that should not be left to pass because it will have ramifications into the future.
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GODFREY OMBOGO BEREAVED
This year has got off to a difficult start for Godfrey Ombogo, who lost his beloved mother early this month after a short illness. Ombogo is a fourth year student in the school of Information Sciences (Media and Publishing) and Managing editor of Newsround. The burial is scheduled for Saturday 22nd January 2011 at the family’s Oyugis home in Homabay County. May God grant the Ombogo family strength and courage to see them through this trying period?