JKUAT Alumni Reunion Chief Guest's Speech

Last Updated on Wednesday, 20 May 2009 11:21 Written by ALISO Wednesday, 20 May 2009 11:14

JKUAT ALUMNI RE-UNION ON 9^TH MAY 2009 at JKUAT

01 PRE-AMBLE

We are creatures of our environment and if our environment is evolving, learning the science of rhythmic will not only keep us relevant and around but all importantly active and optimistic.

 

02 THE VISION 2030

This is a three front survival strategy for Kenya namely in the contexts of socio-economic, political and environmental disposition reactionary to the pressure of internal and external market forces.

 

03 ELEMENTS OF VISION 2030

1. Embracing high technology to enhance productivity and efficiency

This will result to greater rate of employment creation and wealth generation. As an incentive, the government is promoting the implementation of the fibber optic cable for both local and international linkages/connectivity as a means of intervening in bringing down the e-business and subsequent transactions cost (read the cost of doing business)

 

2. Developing and keeping our infrastructure serviceable

This refers to energy supplies: provision of functional and serviceable transport system; provision of adequate, affordable and quality water and sanitation services; provision of a functional, adequate and quality housing service amongst others. It is worthy pointing out that without a plan, we are unlikely to go anywhere even backward. It is prudence to plan for the maintenance, refurbishment and sometimes replacement of our infrastructure if we are not to take it as a bitter pill of a perceived un-necessary evil.

 

3. Promoting equitable development

This should be preceded by creating structures and institutional framework for affirmative actions and requisite regional development marshal plans. The creation of the Ministry of North Eastern and Arid Areas is seen in this context but a balancing act must be administered so that a good idea does not result to further societal inequalities, polarization and fragmentation. Alongside it must be administered the virtues of patriotism and brotherhood, thus creating a holistically monolithic and functional society.

 

4. Promoting good governance and democratic systems

When we become a society of patriotic and responsible citizens, we shall be able to elect a democratic government who in turn should be able to use the faithfully paid tax by the citizenry to provide for the basic needs of Kenyans in respect to health care, education, security, serviceable infrastructure and a conducive business/living environment. Such a practice would leave Kenyans with a higher lever of disposable capital which would enable them to afford their food, shelter and recreational/leisure lives, thus living dignified lives. This would obviously reforms in the institutional framework in all the three arms of the government so as to enhance efficiency and promote prudence use of public resources.

 

5. Creating a just and responsible society

This would involve instituting the necessary judiciary and societal reforms which will in turn inject the culture of patriotism, brotherhood and dignified behavioral practices. It may involve cutting a national character image for Kenya as a Nation devoid of international and or local interpersonal relationship disconnects.

 

6. Executing relevant educational programs

The objective will be to make the education curriculum at the three tier levers of education relevant and in tandem with the evolving societal demands and needs. The content of our curriculum should be founded on market realities (as there are enough challenges) and not hypothetical prepositions. This way, institutions would be able to generate enough revenue to support their research programs as receive considerations for their industrial inputs.

 

7. Creating a robust relationship between the industry, research institution and other institutions of higher learning

This will enable the nation to spring-up from stone-age to an ever modern society through instituting necessary re-engineering structures and mechanisms. In the industrial sector for example, the challenge has been the quality of our goods and protects. Institutions of research and or high learning have starved the informal sector of the requisite product development skills and the arising products have perennially been made for local consumption, with no or minimal foreign exchange earning. The scholarly innovative skills that would aid in product development are missing and the opportunity here is a JKUAT Industrial park where knowledge would spin with inspiration and the human will power to foster industrial development. Such an endeavour would of necessity call for the concerted effort between JKUAT, her alumni and the labour intensive industrial market.

 

The service sector is purely driven by technological transformation/advancement and its viability is dependant on the unit cost of inputs. This has previously been prohibitive but with the recent development in the information technology world such as the introduction of the fibre optic cable and high seas connectivity, the opportunities are enormous. The digital village concept, the BPO phenomenon and the general e-business concept are among the multiple opportunities that are glaring to the unsuspecting and un-daring Kenyan. Businesses and entrepreneurship for that matter thrive on the impetus of networking, alliances and partnership phenomenon that create the requisite complementary and symbiotic synergy that provides a business, lifeline in a sustainable manner.

 

 

04 RELEVANCE OF THE VITION 2030 TO JKUAT ALUMNI

Life has ceased to be the mundane practice that was once the norm of society. Contrary, it has become a thick forest where even the smartest of the kings of the jungle would not survive on their own but would of necessity look upon the collaboration, partnership, alliance and other strategic networking methodologies with like minded contemporaries for the purpose of both collective and self actualization. This is the basis and rationale for the sweeping practice the world over for continents, regions, nations, multi-national companies and most recently political parties to pull together for their block’s if not for individual’s survival. Kenya is not only threatened by the effects of globalization and regional challenges but more so by her internal urbanization challenges.

 

Kenya is never threatened unless and until the individuals in it are threatened. Poverty, unemployment, diseases, illiteracy and other vices that demean human dignity would find it very difficult to hang Kenya as a unity unless their strategy is to work from segment (read individual)to whole(read nation). It is therefore not surprising that even the most brilliant of graduates are running scared of the ghost of unemployment. Everyone seems to be looking upon the government to create employment oblivious of the fact that not even the government of the most modernized society is able to do that. The much talked of Asian tigers are not dependent on their government but the government is dependent on the individuals and corporate citizens for her suitable economic development. These societies have clustered themselves around viable economic clusters, instruments which have become both local and international economic blocks. For your information, this is the formula through which World Bank was borne by a family, supermarkets/the retail industry (which employs one in every five people in Europe) was an initiative of farmers looking for their products’ market, the Israel economy resonates around the Kibbutz economic cluster systems and systems and the list is endless.

 

For a long time, Kenya has boasted of an undisputed superior human capital not only in the region but also on the global map. However, our fragmented approach to issues has left not only our society prone to lower human development index but painfully much lower income capita even to the most hand working individuals. In other words, we hove never as a society (other than during the struggle for freedom for independence) optimized on the full potential of our social equity. Our society has been polarized by the scramble for individualism and self centeredness and yet if well harnessed; each society has enough for each one’s needs not enough for anyone’s greed.

 

05 THE MAGIC OF NUMBERS

From a reliable source of data, if all ex-JKUAT were to be active members of the alumni, we would be talking of a consumption network of 20,000 first line customers. Factor in the family tree of a average of (4) figure heads and you have a critical mass of 80,000, enough to perpetuate and sustain any economic, social and or political agenda for the good of societal transformation. The challenge however lies not only in our inability to believe in our God given full potential but even worse still the lack of envisioning the possible effect of a fully utilized social capital in human development and transformation.

 

We need to stop competing as an internal society and enhance the creed that Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM) and JKUAT Alumni can lead the path considering the geographic spread of her graduates and the well laid out foundation. This is the working Smart formula where you take-in less risk and release some of your otherwise labor intensive man-hours to more meaningful and productive life engagements.

 

Let us remember that even a united team of fools would realize more output than a batch of fragmented intellectuals. Kenya could be the intellect exporter to the region and beyond but our Jerusalem will remain desolate as long as we remain fragmented and in competition with each other as individual professionals, as tribes or even as regions. The unity call starts with such a cluster as the JKUAT alumni which can trace a common bond with ease. The dream of the Vision 2030 is founded on the premise that we shall face our outlined development aspirations as a united nation. This can remain a pipedream and a myth if professional let alone social integration becomes elusive at our level of socialization.

 

06 CONCLUSION

As someone once remarked, if you wish to go fast, then walk alone but if you wish to go far, then mobilize a team. Would we rather go fast at the expense of far? May that felony not be us as JKUAT Alumni but let us choose to go down in the chronicles of Kenya’s history as a societal cluster that played a pivotal role in reshaping the second destiny of their mother/fatherland.

GOD BLESS JKUAT ALUMNI, GOD BLESS JKUAT, GOD BLESS KENYA AND AFRICA AT LARGE.

 

FRANCIS PARSEIMEI GITAU (URBAN MANAGEMENT, HOUSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT EXPERT)