A CALL TO SAVE THE UNIVERSITY.
Prof. Bitange Ndemo has recently withdrawn his candidacy for the Vice Chancellor role at UoN after what he termed as undue process in his appointment.
Whereas his style of handling the appointment has attracted a flurry of comments, I must commend him for ensuring that if he were to start and take up the role, then it has to be on the right footing.
Most people who yearn for CEO roles will be quick to do everything and anything to have the appointments, especially in government. They will hasten the process, cut corners and if undue process favors them, they’ll hurriedly jump in and hope to establish themselves before anything else. The risk? You start wrong, you end wrong.
Listen, Prof. Ndemo has had the prestige of having served as Permeant Secretary (now known as Principal Secretary), as well as Ambassador. He knows that UoN is a place of immense interests and wild cards. He also knows that in the recent past, the only reason for the fistfights at the helm of the institution have been because both council and management never respected the law. They selectively applied the law when it favored them and were at cross purpose when things favored one arm and not another
Amb. Ndemo thus wasn’t carried away by his appointment (after all he is in a farily prestigious diplomatic role in a fairy good station), but wanted it done right. Ndemo was sending a warning; ‘if you think you’re getting a Vice Chancellor whose job will be to cowtow to you, then look elsewhere’. I however feel that the lesson would have been perfect if he declined until the due process is followed, then later took it up once that is done, as opposed to withdrawing from the process altogether. Why? Because he is a talented academician and quite a forward-thinking leader. He is the type that the glorious UoN badly needs in this inglorious moment.
That said, having myself served as a council member of the UoN council by dint of my role as SONU Chairman/President, I pray that the council and its Chair will ensure that laws are followed. I also hope that Jogoo House will not meddle in the running of the institution outside of the law. Governance has been the pedestal upon which all great institutions have thrived. It was laid bare by Bitange that the governance issues at UoN are far from gone. Maybe, just maybe, we need to ensure that professionalism outwits politics and that ethics outruns shrewd maneuvers, lest we walk the sad path of Moi University.
Listen, the UoN will soon fall and diminish from the face of the earth if its governance structures are not robustly rekindled and guarded. We as alumni, who take a lot of pride in THE UNIVERSITY, have a duty to hold the leadership accountable to the creed of our alma mater: “Unitate et Labore” (In unity and work).
David Osiany.
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