By Kurgat Marindany
Kajiado County Commissioner David Kipkemei has appealed to private universities in the region to extend their corporate social responsibility to include offering of scholarships to Maasai girls.
Kipkemei was speaking during the inaugural graduation ceremony of Umma University held at its Kajiado campus.
He said while the Government supports integration among the various institutions of higher learning and also encourages those institutions to have strong links with the communities around their establishments.
“I am appealing to this institution to extend its CSR activities to include scholarships to Maasai girls. We are living in a competitive country, and the girl-child is threatened educationally,” said the Commissioner. He appealed to the local Maasai community to embrace education for girls, saying that long gone are the days when girls were prepared for marriage at a tender age.
“It should dawn on you that in the years to come, no man will accept to marry an uneducated wife. Because of changing lifestyles, no educated woman will also accept to be married by a man who never went to school,” said the Commissioner.
Speaking during the same occasion, Governor Joseph Lenku praised the university’s leadership for the central role it plays in the education sector.
Lenku at the same time, challenged the university to embrace research and partner with the County Government in areas of poverty alleviation for the people in the region. He said his Government has already put in place frameworks aimed at improving provision of water to the locals communities, upgrading of livestock and to improve food security.
The ceremony was also attended by the leader of majority in Parliament, Aden Duale.
