The University of Nairobi’s deregistration of Meru Senator’s academic credentials after investigations by the EACC unearthed forgery in his prior entry qualifications, has yet again brought to the fore the need for a thorough audit of degree qualifications as well as the quality control and security systems of the entire university examination process.
If the said audit is to be conducted by the Commission of University Education (CUE) in respect of locally acquired qualifications, then it behoves them to extend the exercise to foreign qualifications as well.
This can provide an additional level of guarantee to respective stakeholders on the authenticity of foreign qualifications presented to them by such graduates in addition to CUE’s institution Recognition and Equation check currently in place.
As Kenyans holding a foreign academic qualification, we find ourselves sucked in this debate, by association, our Alma Mater having been mentioned in the above-mentioned investigations.
Marathwada University
Official records indicate that Kenyan students gradually started enrolling at Marathwada University which is situated in Aurangabad, Maharashtra State, India in the mid nineteen-eighties, and at one time the student population stood at almost two thousand in a single academic year.
It was the preferred educational destination for students desiring to pursue quality Law, Arts and Commerce disciplines due the subsidised tuition fee, affordable living standards as well as availability of government bursaries for those eligible.
Upon graduation, they returned home to join the then already stretched skilled workforce in nation building and presently, most of them hold very senior positions in the civil service, the private sector, the academia while some are trail-blazing in entrepreneurship.
As part of institutional rebranding, the University adopted the name of India’s foremost jurist and social reformist, Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar in January 14, 1994 (his birthday) to boost its profile as well as honour the man who had gone beyond the call of duty to promote education standards in the entire Marathwada region.
The change of name, initiated by the Dalit through the Namantar Andolan (Name change Movement), was not consummated by a mere symbolic change of the letterhead and re-issue of charter by the Government, but had been met with resistance from the moment the Maharashtra State Legislature approved the motion a decade and a half earlier.
Some powerful elements in the political and religious sector as well as in the media wanted the status quo to remain, and the level of unrest that ensued during the period can only be rivalled by what we recently witnessed here in Kenya after the hotly-contested August 8 elections. The reasons were mainly viewed as an opposition to the interruption of the Hindu social order conceptualised by the caste system - A story for another day.
Later on, the journey to becoming one of the top State Universities in India was unstoppable after the warring factions compromised on the name, a timely lesson that, as a nation, we too can overcome our differences if we can subordinate our selfish interests to our common good.
Across the globe, educational institutions which have gone through the name-change process can attest to facing a myriad of challenges (though not as dramatic as witnessed in the renaming of Marathwada University to Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University), most of which affect older graduates whose certificates read their institution’s former name.
This has, however, been cured by a re-issue of a new degree certificate bearing the current name at a small administrative fee or through a simple background check by any interested party in writing to the University Registrar for verification.
Having said that, we can confirm the EACC’s findings that by 2001, when the Meru Senator purports to have graduated from Marathwada University, the said institution had since been renamed to Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, as some of us were there at that time and do not recall his presence during our stay.
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Alumni’s Role in Defending their Honour
At face value, the results of the investigation in the case under question indicate that the politician must have had some help either from an alumnus of the institution or a wayward official at Jogoo House, the latter seeming a bit more plausible.
Cases of Kenyans who have never even stepped on Indian soil brandishing their fake Marathwada University degrees have been heard before.
In our stay there, it was unheard of for a Kenyan student to attempt to compromise the University administration for this crucial document.
That is why students could take even ten years to clear a five year degree course after failing their exams repeatedly.
This determination to earn one’s honour legitimately, however long it takes, is what is characteristic of graduates of Indian Universities.
It is an act of pure sacrifice for a brighter future for students pursuing their studies in India due to the various challenges that face them during their stay and, therefore, a bit disconcerting to all of us who went through our higher education there, and to be specific those of us who graduated from Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, when unscrupulous individuals in their blatant abhor of hard work , ethics and integrity continue to taint our very hard-won qualifications for selfish gains.
Some of our recently graduated Alumni have reportedly faced discrimination from an already biased job market as a result of this bad publicity; a narrative which we are determined to correct.
Granted, every institution has its own challenges, even amongst local universities here in Kenya; but the problem in our case seems to rest mainly outside the University.
It is with this in mind that we held our inaugural meeting of the pioneer and recently graduated Alumni in August this year and resolved to form a local chapter of the Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University Alumni Association to, among other things, foster the interests of the its membership locally while promoting the university’s noble mission in word and deed.
University Degrees Database
If from his recent pronouncements, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Dr. Fred Matiang’i’s intention is to develop a mechanism, conventional or otherwise that will authenticate an individual’s qualifications, we are willing be on the frontline in submitting to this exercise.
Our Dr.BAMU Alumni Association-Kenya has a membership going in to their hundreds and still counting, ranging from the pioneer graduates of the 1980s to this year’s graduates who hold impressive credentials and expertise across disciplines.
As an Association, we have developed a robust database of our Alumni membership and are in touch with our University Administration in Aurangabad for consultations.
We admit that we cannot vouch for any of our member’s character when they were students as people tend to change their behaviour over time.
What we can guarantee is a platform where anyone can interrogate any individual who claims to be a graduate of our University as our bond as Alumni goes beyond drinking from the same fountain of knowledge to the very socialisation as black Africans in an Asian set up.
It is noteworthy that for life to make sense beyond the classroom miles away from home, we interacted at a much deeper level than students normally do here at home.
Everyone knew almost every fellow African by name, when they landed in India, the village they come from, the course they are undertaking, their girlfriend or boyfriend, their talents, their birthdays, when and which class and year they graduated and so forth.
It is therefore virtually impossible for someone to have studied in India and not have peers or former classmates come out to defend him when their qualifications are brought in to question.
While we sympathise with the followers and family of the Senator, we do strongly submit that it is incumbent on every leader, irrespective of office held, to demonstrate the highest level of integrity way above the minimum set out in Chapter 6 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.
How else are we going to instil in to our children the value of a strong work ethic and integrity as necessities for their success in life?
We ,hereby, invite any individual, body corporate or government agency desiring to vet any Alumnus of Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University or the former Marathwada University for whatever reason, to contact us at [email protected] or visit our website www.bamualumni.co.ke for a swift and conclusive reference check.
We also commend Dr.Matiang’i for the crackdown on Universities selling degrees to politicians and other wayward individuals and urge him to rein in hard on such institutions as he did while sanitising the primary and secondary schools examinations sector.
This will go a long way in providing a level playing field in the job market for only the deserving, disciplined and hardworking candidates.
Education has a big role to play in the war against corruption and with morally upright and qualified graduates in the right place; we might finally succeed in slaying this dragon from within.
Thank you.
Edwin Ngugi Muriithi
Secretary General,
Dr.BAMU Alumni Association-Kenya
(Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University
Alumni Association-Kenya)
Email [email protected]
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