Investing in merit means investing in a peaceful future, better society

Class Eight pupils as well as Form Four students sit their final year examinations this month. And the country’s leadership has sent them their good wishes.

This is important for a couple of reasons: The leaders are expressing their desire that students will excel and proceed to do great things in their lives through access to education.

Presumably, the reason parents invest in their children’s education is because they believe their qualifications will count for something in their lives. In other words, it is an investment in merit, which in turn should lead to better access to public resources abundant in our land, devoid of any other consideration such as race, religion, gender or ethnicity.

And coming in the month that we celebrate Mashujaa Day, the day that honours those who stood up against racial discrimination that defined the lives of our citizens for 70 years, merit is something of value. And when merit is allowed to take its space in our lives, our children will not need tall relatives to prop them up because their own credentials will be all they need to succeed in life.

Sadly, merit has not been allowed to take root in our society; I have heard from tales from friends and associates who remark being locked out of positions they were more than qualified for because those conducting the interviews had pre-qualified candidates, and so were not subjected to an objective test.

Such tales shock and scare and they should reasonably worry leaders who are plotting the failure of this society because when merit is not given a chance, it breeds resentment and ultimately, rage against the system.