in the news

I am thankful not to be a newspaper editor. Our daily news has so many top stories fighting for space. There are pages devoted to the US Presidential election. The fact that Obama has Kenyan roots adds greatly to the interest. When he was elected Senator, there was jubilation in his father’s home area because in the tradition of Kenyan politics the family and clan of the incumbent receives great largesse. They were soon disabused. Nonetheless, the hope that Africa in general will figure more highly in Obama’s policies still runs strong.
Many more pages are devoted to the current political turmoil regarding the consequences of the violence earlier this year. More of that later.
Form Four high school leavers have just begun the national exams. A student’s whole future hangs on these exams which are a one shot deal for future education. We support a girl who sat last year and received an A- average. But we still don’t know if that is good enough for her to receive a government bursary for university. She has a chance of being accepted at medical school but without government subsidy the fees will be unreachable. Although she would like her second choice to be engineering, she was not allowed to put that on her bursary application, since Engineering and Medicine are separated, so has settled for Education as her second choice. She will hear in August and if successful will then scramble to register for September.
Back to this year’s exams. Just before they started there was a major announcement that all possible leaks had been sealed and there was no chance of anyone procuring the exam papers ahead of time. There were dire warnings that any papers for sale would be fakes and purchasers as well as vendors would be prosecuted. Despite this there are now many stories of real papers being leaked as well as false ones. Teachers, printers, policemen (who guard the papers during transit and invigilation) and others are all possible sources. Add to this the students who are still in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps and who have missed instruction and proper facilities. The newspapers are usually full of ‘feel good’ stories at this time of year about prisoners sitting for their certificate and other adults who have returned to school, but these are lacking this year.
The other big story is corruption in the UN in Nairobi. The Nairobi office was slated to be upgraded and expanded to be on a par with Geneva. An audit has found that some ten billion shillings (about $150 million) has been ‘lost’ in procurement and administration. The money is supected to have been stolen by employees who colluded with suppliers. Some contracts were inflated over negotiated prices. Some were awarded to employees’ family members without tender. Some were given to non-existent organizations. The current audit could scuttle the efforts to elevate the Nairobi office. At the present the UN employs about 1,660 Kenyans and nationals of other countries.