Don’t envy anyone’s fake papers, you can as well buy yours

By BILL ODUNGA

In all honesty, I do not think that the recent case concerning Governor’s Joho was brought up because of the whistle blower’s conscience. I doubt his intuition wouldn’t let him sleep if he hadn’t tarnished Mheshimiwa. I mean the guy has been a public figure for so long, and his records have been in the public domain for ages. So it begs the question, why now? Why didn’t he air out the dirty garments during the nomination’s process?

I was watching news the other day when this story came up. And please do not get me wrong, I am not for the idea of having D-grade graduates managing county funds. As a matter of fact, if the allegations are substantiated, even if on a mere preponderance of evidence, then I say he needs to go back and learn his alphabet. What tickled me most is the fact that the student leader says he never saw him, and that Joho never attended classes. Here is the scoop about contemporary higher learning education; Degree ni Harambee, ask any graduate. In the olden days, students used to actually read, attend classes faithfully and complete assignments. Today, very few people can actually hold their degree and rightfully claim that it’s a product of their own sweat and sacrifice.

With the renaissance of the digital era in Kenya today, assignments are handed in typed or in soft copy. Looking at the individual work handed in, there is no significant difference in content or line of thought, all thanks to copy-paste. One student does the work and the rest replicate and edit. In exam rooms, you sit in formation to necessitate copying from one another and exchange thoughts in good faith. And as regards class attendance, all you need to do is teach the faithful attendant of class how to write your signature and you are sorted.

At the end of the day, we all go to school, get almost similar grades and very few come out with an education. That is how Mr. Joho might have glided through the semester in Kampala University unnoticed. In any case, student leaders do not know majority of the students. They are always busy somewhere jackpotting students money or giving the school administration headaches of biblical proportions. That is why most political student leaders are the ones who get degrees courtesy of the charity and goodwill of other students. Interestingly, they will eventually evolve into state executives who catch feelings when you do not salute them as Honourable so and so, when it’s a notoriety that they are masquerading fakes.

But who cares anyway? We live in a society that feeds on the teachings of Niccolò Machiavelli, and such, the end justifies the means, right?