IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE USING A FAKE ACCOUNT UNDER MY NAME. I HAVE REPORTED THE FAKE ACCOUNT TO FACEBOOK MANAGEMENT. MOVING FORWARD, THEY DID NOT ALLOW ME TO SPEAK AT THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE AT THE PAVILION, BECAUSE THEY WERE AFRAID OF MY MANIFESTO AND MY AGENDA. BUT FOR THOSE WHO DID NOT GET TO COME TO THE LAUNCH OF MY MANIFESTO, HERE IS YOUR CHANCE TO SEE AND READ IT. THE DOUGLAS EBOLE MANIFESTO Scholarships As students with high expectations of our future lives and careers, we have to acknowledge the fact that coming from different backgrounds; we all cannot be at the same level financially. Nonetheless, it is only fair that we recognize the presence of the less fortunate amidst us. Picking from other established universities and colleges, a scholarship fund is always set aside every academic semester to cater for the bright but needy students as well as those who might be having financial challenges at a critical time as the exam period. Right from University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University to our own mother university JKUAT, they all have a scholarship program to facilitate such. The big question is, why not Multimedia University? As your next president, my first duty will be to ensure there is a fund set aside to assist in this important endeavor. In case the administration goes into their usual tales of not having enough funds to implement this agenda; I will employ a new concept, Public-Private partnerships which will be elaborated in the following agenda. The university is a public institution, however, we understand the government or the institution cannot manage to undertake all the developments programs they desire due to financial constraints or otherwise. The Douglas Ebole government will look for willing and able partners in the private sector to propel the institution forward. For instance, on the issue of scholarships, universities the world over have engaged philanthropists and organizations to finance promising students. Often, you will hear of the Rhodes scholarship or the Gates Scholarship where private citizens have financed students. Kenyatta University has the Chandaria Incubation and Innovation Centre, why can’t our institution follow suit and bring in such partners on board? These partnerships will give the university students a new lease of life where the institution cannot manage to help. This campaign is committed to do that for this fraternity. Accommodation, Water and Nutrition With majority of the students staying in school, our general welfare and upkeep should be given priority. It is quite ironical that we pride ourselves as a centre of ICT excellence yet our admission process and hostel accommodation is the most primitive in comparison with other campuses that we boast of being ahead of. Numerous attempts have been made by the students to come up with online solutions to this sorry state of affairs but we all know how the administration has thwarted these brilliant efforts. A time has come when they have to take responsibility and host the online platform in the school website to ease the process and of course thereafter reward the innovators of this platform. We will also push to see how we can fuse mobile payment as an option in paying fees and later booking accommodation online. Our survival as humans solely rests on the availability of water apart from oxygen which is of course free. The issue of water in this institution has been a problem since time immemorial. Currently, the school relies fully on water provided by the City County of Nairobi. With our increasing number, it is quite obvious that this is very unreliable as is already being witnessed in our hostels and even the pavilion. The time for a sustainable source of water is here and it is possible even if it means drilling two boreholes to serve the males and females residing inside the school. The last thing in our minds should be the worry of dry taps. With your support, this is very achievable. Nonetheless, it goes without saying that our nutrition is wanting. As students in an institution of higher learning, it is discouraging for us to struggle for food or rather make long queues and end up not even getting the food after all. Variety, quality and quantity are areas of concern to my presidency. With the privatization of the Pavilion things will be a little easier since we can have different suppliers for the different foodstuffs to ensure all-round-the-clock service. The efficiency of the service has to be dealt with as well since the student population is increasing thus calling for a beef up in the number of cashiers, cooks and servers. With the elected Secretary for Accommodation and Catering, this will be made a reality. Better fee payment policy The current fee payment policy of 50-30-20 was put in place mid 2012. As we speak, nothing in the policy is or has ever been implemented. It is unacceptable for a public university in this day and age to ask for 100% of the fee at the beginning of every semester. Coming up with such policies should be a collective and an all inclusive effort to ensure both parties get the best deal. Student’s names should not be exempted from the nominal role in the name of fee payment since we all have different needs at different times and priorities may clash. We know too well that each year the government disburses approximately 300 million to the university to facilitate its operations. School fees should come in where certain inadequacies arise. It is my intention to ensure that either the current fee payment policy is implemented to the letter or a better one be put in place and followed as well. Strengthening the Union-MUKSA The fate of the union-MUKSA has always been hanging on a spider’s web. Its decisions are always guided by how far the administration can accommodate. Threats of disbandment are a norm. The elected leaders are always in fear of victimization, arrest, suspension or worse still, expulsion because of championing for students’ rights, some as basic as provision of water. A student union as an independent entity should not be cowed in any way when pursuing duly deserved rights by the students. Getting a permanent lawyer to represent the union on matters legal, within or without the institution as well as offer legal advice is top on my list of priorities. First, the union will get assets-which it already has (student businesses) and get registered in the Attorney General’s office as an organization to prevent the constant threats of dissolution. This way, the union will be working under the umbrella and guidance of the law as well as having to exercise its powers within the required boundaries without fear of anyone being victimized or the union getting dissolved. Nurturing innovation and Talent recognition Multimedia University is overflowing with great innovative minds and talent as has been seen. The sad news however, is that all this lies untapped and goes unrecognized. Throughout my stay in this institution, brilliant innovations in the field of ICT, Engineering and Advertising have never gone beyond the lecture halls. The university currently has an annual tech expo always held at the conference centre but only a handful of the student population know about this. This is because of poor information dissemination that automatically locks out potential innovators. Within the university is a Research and Innovation Centre that has never been utilized. Being an institution priding itself as an ICT Centre of Excellence, the center should always be open to facilitate such in terms of resources and expert advice. Consequently, such hard work ought to be rewarded accordingly. Through the public-private partnership programme explained above, the tech expo will be sponsored by corporates such as Safaricom or Samsung that will tap the brilliant innovations and reward successful participants. The last time an independent forum to expose the hidden talent was held in school was in mid 2012 when the student centre was still in operation. Unfortunately, the forum went down in flames just like the student centre. Much thanks to the Drama club for coming up with The Spotlight that showcases such great talents as well. With major connections in the media modeling and entertainment industry, I have always connected students with advertising agencies and production houses e.g Tom Wanjala- InVogue, Brian Njagi- Tahidi High, Riccky Ochako- Versatile, Leslie Mirungu- Zuku Africa etc. In my capacity as the President, such connections will be open to the entire student fraternity to improve their talent as well as their personal lifestyles through the income that comes with it. We will also urge the administration to officially recognize students who achieve highly be it in the Drama Festivals, Innovation Contests or even developing applications. Being a member of the school football team, I am fully aware of the challenges that face the sports personalities and with the help of the Sports Secretary; I am fully convinced that we will handle them amicably. Marginalized groups My campaign understands that there are groups that form a small percentage in the institution. However, this should not be a reason for anyone to be discriminated against. Democracy is believed to work when the majority and the minority feed from the same plate. My presidency will therefore focus on minority groups such as the Muslims, and the physically challenged. It will be my duty to ensure that all students of this university feel that their issues are my issues too, whether they are 2 or 2,000. We will prevail on the administration to ensure that any buildings that come up have ramps that the physically challenged can used. My presidency will never discriminate on grounds of race, gender, age, religion or on any other diversities that exist.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 20:42:20 +0000
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