Grade six pupils follow through rice cooking practicals and processes at Mully Children's primary school in Matuu, Machakos County on October 05, 2022, in preparation for their final exams to Junior secondary education. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

Of the many questions posed to CS nominees during their vetting, one posed to Education CS nominee Ezekiel Machogu stood out. The question by Saboti MP Caleb Amisi was simple: 'There's a disconnect between success and education, something that is discouraging children; that the most successful people are drop-outs... is this something that bothers you?'

Mr Machogu seemed not to have gotten it properly because if he did, he would not have gone on the wrong tangent of unmarketable courses et cetera.

Coincidentally, as Machogu was struggling to answer, a graduate of electrical engineering was going viral for claiming to have dumped all of his academic certificates and bid goodbye to job seeking.

Clinton Muguami claimed to have tried everything including applying for internships and had concluded that education in Kenya is a false narrative. He had scored straight As for his KCSE and then earned a First Class Honours degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

You can imagine the disappointment - an engineering graduate sitting at home jobless.

The vetting process in itself was a clear manifestation of that disconnect. When a university qualification is no longer a requirement for the high office of a Cabinet Secretary then what can we expect?

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As the vetting went on, wealth seemed to be the subliminal factor with the least wealthy nominee being Zachariah Njeru who claimed to be worth just Sh80 million.

There is nothing wrong with being wealthy but the most important part of wealth declaration is the journey to it. We need to be inspired by how one shilling was added to another to accumulate such immense wealth. What a beautiful lesson that would be for those of us yet to find the formulae.

The members of the committee never seemed interested either, maybe for lack of time but more likely for being in the same WhatsApp group.

All we have been taught to believe is that education is the key to success and for a time that was true. For many, education was the great equaliser that lifted men and women from poverty to the high table. However, it seems, the rules have changed.

Today, the message is that all we need is a little wealth and to get that you may not need much education; just get close to power and where need be, a few compromises.

To those of us still holding strong to our moral compass, we are doomed. That explains the thousands of Kenyans trooping to cyber cafes to participate in the US DV lottery. People wish to be in a country that accords equal opportunity to all. We owe it to ourselves and our children to make Kenya one too by restoring education as the great equaliser.

The writer is anchor at Radio Maisha