The ongoing brouhaha about the selection of grade ten students to the various clusters of schools is not new to this country as it used to happen during the selection of students to form one and five in the previous education systems. What may be new is that it has been ignited by a senior citizen, Rigathi Gachagua, former Deputy President of Kenya.
He has complained that students from regions such as the North Eastern Kenya are being placed in schools in Mt Kenya region to the exclusion of the children of Mt Kenya. He used Mang’u High and Alliance High schools as examples. Let us consider historical perspectives.
Mang’u was first established in 1925 at Kabaa in Machakos County by the Catholic Church. It was later moved to the current site in 1939 and later taken up as a national school. Its infrastructural development was done by the church, the government and massive support by the alumni such as former President Mwai Kibaki and George Saitoti through fundraisers. Not much was done by the neighbouring people.
One wonders whether Gachagua would have objected to students from Mt Kenya getting admitted to Mang’u had it remained at Kabaa.
Consequently, Alliance High school was established by consensus by an Alliance of churches-Church of Scotland, Anglican Church, Methodist Church, the African Inland Church and the Friends Church- way back in 1924 and located in Kikuyu due to its proximity to Nairobi. These churches ran the school till it was taken over by the government as a national school and has largely benefited from government funding and the strong alumni association through fundraisings.
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The only claim that Mt Kenya can have on the school is its geographical location. It could as well have been constructed in Kaimosi, Meru, Machakos or Taita Taveta where these churches were already established. Whichever one looks at it Gachagua used the wrong examples to make his case even if one would like to imagine that he could be having a point; and if he did, then he should have used examples of later promoted national schools such as Njiiri High School.
The second contentious issue that Gachagua raised was to create the perception that it is largely residents of Mt Kenya region that build schools but other communities were feeble about doing so and now their schools are being taken over by them. Schools like Tartar Girls, Sironga Girls, Kapropita Girls, Tambach Boys, Kabianga Boys, Tenwek Boys Ogande Girls are examples of such wellbuilt schools outside Mt Kenya. Two concerns arise from this point of view. First Gachagua was a member of the National Assembly for five years and a Deputy President for two years. Why did he not use these positions to raise this matter even within the Cabinet and offer alternative formula for placement of then form one students to these national schools?
The timing is therefore suspect. And would he have raised the same matter were he not impeached? Secondly it has often be observed that politicians tend to create a siege mentality perception among their communities when elections are close. In the case of Mt Kenya their leaders have regularly used the candidacy of Raila Odinga as one person who must be voted against to stop him from winning. Who knows, they may have been voting against Raila when they voted for President William Ruto. In the absence of Raila in 2027 and in view of the need of capture the minds of Mt Kenya residents to vote for one of their own might it not be the case that education is being used to promote the Siege perception?
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This is not the first time that education has been used to campaign against the incumbent President. Around 1999 then leader of opposition Mwai Kibaki asked President Moi to sell the newly bought presidential jet and pay teachers phase two of the contentious 1997 teachers salary award. When he took over as president he never did so and neither did his two successors. The 8-4-4 was also used largely to campaign against President Moi. In 2003, after President Mwai Kibaki took over, non-other than James Kamunge, then a senior World Bank official based in Nairobi and a resident of Mt Kenya confessed to me in a discussion that there was nothing seriously wrong with 8-4-4 system and that a large part of the noise against it was politics to fight Moi. I didn’t doubt him in view of his seniority, experience and where he hailed from. This is how we have to partly view Gachagua’s assertions.
Lastly, the North Eastern Kenya leaders need to defend themselves objectively on these accusations. They may not be doing as well as they should have to develop education in their region. However, pilfering of public resources is not limited to them alone. One governor each from Nyanza and Mt Kenya and Rift Valley have been convicted of the same. They were conveniently not mentioned yet they also put up buildings in several places including Nairobi.
By Benjamin Sogomo
Education Specialist/Former TSC secretary benjaminsogomo@gmail.com
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