Kenya stands to gain most when lecturers are well remunerated

Malik is an agreeable man. With an ever present smile and an avuncular deportment, his hulking frame belies his friendly nature. Malik is a lecturer at a public university in Nyanza, but not many people know exactly what he does because of the multiple identities his vocation imposes on him. His daily routine in the city of Kisumu is a dizzying rat-race. Having pulled out his two daughters from a decent private school due to tight costs, his day begins before dawn driving the girls to a cheaper public school across town.

An hour later he completes the drive to the university, thirty kilometres away where he darts from one lecture room to another. In all he lectures for no less than six hours each day. To make other ends meet, Malachi uses his training in Music to coach local choirs in the evening. He has lately taken to working part time as a disk-jockey in a local night club.