Mr. President, kindly highlight this matter and save Moi University students.
1) The “missing marks” is a phenomenon that has caused many a student, let alone a parent untold misery not to mention psychological trauma. It defies logic that a student scores 60 but later on discovers that his or her marks have been reduced to 50 or even 35 & is forced to repeat the same paper as a supplementary exam (a Mr. Ochich is notorious for this and has even made a student repeat the same paper 12 times!) This lecturer shouldn’t be anywhere near a classroom.
What actually happens is that when results are released, the mean score is dispatched to the main campus but individual marks are not, so a student or parent who fails exams proceeds to the relevant department and bribes his or her way to the graduation list.
This is what transpires; a student who has passed has his or her marks subtracted and the marks added to their zero grades. So what does this mean? The mean score of the class remains the same but the more deserving students are oppressed, no wonder it is said that Moi University is churning out sub-standard lawyers. What is even more disturbing is that the incompetent, inefficient, ineffective & absentee dean is doing nothing about it.
2) The next serious concern is to do with supplementary exams. Each supplementary exam costs Ksh. 400 and it’s more than guaranteed that you will be intentionally failed so that one will be forced to cough a whooping Ksh. 12,000, take another oppressive exam named a re-take. Can you imagine what the likes of Mr. Ochich make?
To these lecturers, this is booming business. This happens to be the school’s cash cow, a way of making quick cash from struggling parents who have sacrificed a lot to give their children an education. What a shame! So imagine a student taking 3 supplementary exams then 3 re-takes? That is not even the worst part, the results are released after a year or more, so by the time one gets the supplementary and re-take results, it’s at least 3 years down the road and one’s peers have graduated and left the law school, while you have been left behind begging the lecturers for your marks. Not only is it inhuman but a clear violation of your individual human rights and an affront to parents. It is no wonder that some students have contemplated suicide.
3) Another notorious lecturer in Moi School of Law, besides Mr. Ochich is one Mr Odhiambo. How does a lecturer teach an entire unit in 4 lessons of an hour each? He has the audacity to chase a fully paid up student out of class and also bar him from ever attending any of his lecturers or sitting for exams, just for being 10 minutes late as he was attending to a personal emergency? As usual the ‘toothless” dean did absolutely nothing about it but rather pushed the student to write an apology letter and even after writing the letter and being condemned unheard, the student was still denied entry into the lecture halls and sitting for the final exams. The same arrogant and proud lecturer gave students a CAT that lasted for 45 minutes instead of the stipulated 1 and a half hours, clearly this is a conspiracy to ensure that students fail so that they can mint thousands of shillings. To make matters even more convoluted, he snatched papers from students and threatened to reject all papers brought to him after the irregular 45 minutes.
4) The same belligerent Odhiambo has been heard broadcasting that he was bent on ensuring that he fails a particular class because he detests and abhors them vehemently.
5) Charging exorbitantly for supplementary exams and re-takes appears to be a highly lucrative business at the Moi University School of Law (Annex Campus).
6) Students pay activity fee as part of the school fees but there is no extracurricular activities available. If one attempts to request for even for a table tennis ball or allowances for sports, he or she is required to submit at least 6 requisition letters but ultimately one will be denied finances or be informed that it’s not of great consequence. Essentially students finance school activities from their own pockets, not considering that the students have paid for the services.
7) The other hurtful act being demanded for by lecturers is sex; failure to comply may lead to supplementary exams. Many girls have fallen prey, those who have dared resist have suffered the worst of fates, ever from malicious supplementary exams to retakes and even in extreme circumstances suspensions for 1000 academic days. The dean, it has been said had been suspended for 2 years for soliciting for sexual favors from students, talk of letting the wolf tend to the welfare of sheep. How can a sexual predator be in charge of vulnerable teenage girls? Evidence from girls who have been through this hell is readily available. But the students have been afraid of coming out strongly for fear of victimization.
8) As aforementioned Moi School of Law has an absentee dean who can be unavailable for weeks on end and cannot be reached on phone. I guess he is more of a farmer than a teacher.
9) The cartels that reign supreme in the Finance Department are causing untold havoc. They add unexplained costs to the fees and force one to pay or defer will defer a student’s the semester. They will also inform a student that his or her is not a student in the school & their respective file is not available. But production of evidence makes them backtrack and say there’s a hitch in the system and miraculously reappear one’s file reappears.
10) Graduating from the Moi School of Law in 4 years is by the grace of God.
11) In the recent strike where students complained about marks, the school did nothing but instead the VC threatened the students that they would not teach him how to run the school and that he had over 80 major courses to move forward and that if the students continued complaining he would close down the school. A total contrast from his predecessor Prof. Ayiro who, although he was in Moi University for a short duration left an enviable legacy. Ayiro was a performer unlike the current VC who must be holding the office by virtue of him hailing from the “correct tribe”.
12) Tribalism is also what ails Moi University. The staff members are predominantly from one ethnic group & are less than competent to perform their duties. The school compounds are unkempt, dirty & broken down ablution facilities, lack of sockets & lighting in the library, Cafeteria that is in a pathetic state with equally pathetic & sub-standard food being served, a very unreliable wi-fi that always breaks down yet we pay for it.
The filth that is in Moi University School of Law and by extension the entire Moi University is pitiable & wretched. The entire management should be sent home and replaced by a more competent team that has the wishes of the students at heart.
Students and parents alike are fed up to the brim with sub-standard staff and if students are to perform well, as leaders of tomorrow the foundation should be solid not the filth students are exposed to by individuals who run the campus like their own personal property. This has to stop sooner than later!
President Kenyatta, CS Amina Mohammed, CS Matianyi, DPP Nurdin Hajji, DCI Kinoti, EACC et al should form a joint task Force to bring back sanity to this institution.
