Is the Kenyan university achievement a curse?

Several months ago, writing on this Forum for “Tuesday Tips”, I opined that universities should not act like ivory towers by alienating themselves from the society that they are part. This followed the news of the collapsed residential building in Huruma, Nairobi and the floods that characterized the Nairobi roads at that time. We should note that save for expert contributions made by Eng. Goro of department of Civil and Construction engineering at the University of Nairobi on national television, there was little to no contribution from other staff or students of any Kenyan university in addressing the issues that bedeviled our city at that particular time.  I also wrote that the universities and the country at large should find ways to make use of the millions of young people idling in the campuses, spending a lot of their times high on illegal substances and/or playing video games or betting.

To add on what I wrote then, I’ll share my observation regarding the life cycle of a Kenyan smart enough to make it to university on government scholarship/sponsorship. I’ll draw from my own life story and compare it with what I see about my friends who never made it to college/ didn’t go for any studies after high school.