University students can lead the quest for a better Kenya

By Kilemi Mwiria

I recently officiated at a Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) conference to sensitise university students on their role in fighting corruption. The idea is commendable.

Firstly, most Kenyans have resigned to the fact that those associated with corruption are unlikely to be prosecuted. Some are in Government and have more than enough money for legal battles, while KACC will keep reminding us it lacks prosecutorial powers. Under the circumstances, preventing corruption now and in the future may be a more realistic objective.

Secondly, university students and youth in general would benefit the most from a corruption free Kenya. They have merited their education through hard work but many are discriminated against in employment. Yet, most of them come from poor backgrounds where their only hope in life is a society that respects merit and not one’s connections.

Moreover, no institution symbolises merit more than the university. Those learning or teaching there owe it to their intellectual ability, not ethnicity, race or background. They best symbolise the virtues corruption detests the most; hard work and merit.

Thirdly, Kenya is more about their future and their children than it is about my generation. This is why they have the responsibility to put in place structures that will make it impossible for their children to be victims of corruption by investing in a system that supports meritocracy.

As messengers against corruption, the youth have their energy to exploit. A good example is the ethnic clashes of 2007/2008 when the whole country came to a standstill because of the energy they exerted fighting other people’s battles. How I wish they could direct that energy to positive change!

To be credible, the youth have to demonstrate honesty, commitment, selflessness, volunteerism, charity, moral uprightness, discipline and vision, while rejecting the opportunistic tendencies that make us corrupt.

Our youth are further well placed to conduct civic education due to their level of education and national reach. They can therefore take the anti-corruption crusade beyond their homes and educational institutions to the wider public where they preach values of a corrupt free society.

They should be brave enough to shun, name and shame the corrupt instead of glorifying thieves of public property just because they favour them and their friends with ill-gotten wealth and power.

They should start their anti-corruption crusade from where they operate — the education system. They must speak out against cheating in examinations and academic research and publications; nepotism and tribalism in admission, recruitment and promotion; academic favours that are sexually or commercially motivated; tribalisation of student and staff politics; cheating for bursaries and education loans, and undemocratic and corrupt institutional governance.

More crucially they should be central in Kenya’s political leadership as only good governance can guarantee a prosperous and corruption free Kenya. In addition to voting for persons of integrity at all levels, they have to be available for elective positions. Their key assets are education, dynamism, non-tribal upbringing and numbers.

The youth’s 70 per cent share of Kenya’s population should translate to at least 50 per cent of parliamentary and civic seats and should be significantly felt at the presidential vote. It may help if they have a youthful leader to rally behind along with the backing of sympathisers out of their age bracket.

This will call for organised engagement through some kind of youth movement or political party. A national student body revolving around national unity for economic progress is a good beginning point.

—The writer is Assistant Minister for Higher Education and MP for Tigania West

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