How university student strikes send administrators smiling to the bank

Kenya: First assumption by most university students is that strikes are collective bargaining in the name of 'comrades’ power' that can save them from administration oppression. I strongly disagree.

Most student unrests in our universities arise as a result of petty issues that can be resolved easily; which is why ‘comrades’ must ask themselves some questions. Why the management is always reluctant to dealing with these concerns. For instance we recently went on rampage due to a few decisions which students deemed inappropriate enforced by the administration.

The riot could be anticipated owing to the tension that had gripped our campus .Instead of addressing the problem to find working solutions, the management adamantly sent several memos to students insisting on the same contentious matter. Students felt it was enough. They raided university shops, damaged a few windowpanes and burnt other property.

I do not think the cost of the destruction was anything above two million shillings yet every student was penalised a damage fee of Sh1000. My university has a population of about 35,000 students which sums the total to Sh35million.

What is even more puzzling is that the Sh35million is never accounted for since nothing changes, no noticeable development. Remember that sum of money was not or rather is not slotted in the University budget hence makes it more difficult to trace its expenditure.

This is how students have over time enriched a few university administrators unknowingly.

My fellow comrades let us learn and look for other possible means to raise and address our pleas. A university is not your forever home. After all you should know that trying to change a university policy is as hard as explaining a pictorial diagram to a blind person.