On qualifications, the rot runs deep in public sector
Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja who is fighting claims he did not graduate from university. Contests have a penchant for exposing secrets. That is how we have learned that some politicians lack the requisite academic credentials to vie during the August polls.
Contests have a penchant for exposing secrets. That is how we have learned that some politicians lack the requisite academic credentials to vie during the August polls. The revelation has elicited a witty meme: “Nairobi weather is like politician ‘x’- zero degrees”.
That political leaders want to game the system with fake degrees is sickening. The fraud points to the systemic societal rot that chews our social fabric to the last thread—of shortcuts and disregard of laws and norms. That’s why politicians, some of them topflight, want to make a mockery of the nomination by producing fake documents.
Politicians determine the fate of their societies and future generations. They, sublimely, influence our behaviours. They must be unimpeachable: Their academic and moral formation must pass muster.
Medieval Age scholar and poet Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), credited for stimulating the Renaissance, considered education as critical to the construct of “true nobility” that establishes meritocracy. It would, he reckoned, dismantle the long tradition of gentry packaged as pre-ordained and eternal.
Excellence was critical
Then, excellence was critical to the reformation of Christendom that was mired in crisis. Sound education, especially humanities, was considered a panacea. Indeed, even in The Republic, Plato vouches for a philosopher king—persons of philosophical knowledge and political skill attained via robust education—as critical to the management of a city state.
Education is one of the organs that society uses to order and perpetuate itself. The coherence and homogeneous unit procured via education and spiced by intellect is important for a functional political and administrative enterprise. An educated leadership, that has gone through the rigour of academic formation will be best placed to distil the complexities of modern-day society and propose strategic solutions on behalf of their electorates.
But then, there is something fundamentally wrong with a society that seem to perpetually disregard the sanctity of education. Indeed, the problem of bogus papers may not be confined in the political court. The public sector, especially, it seems, is a den of such malaise. This explains why, occasionally, we see public officers charged in court for fraudulently getting positions on strength of forged papers.
Tip of the iceberg
What does this tell us? First, that what we are seeing is just a tip of the iceberg. Secondly, a system that is brimming with dubious academic papers lacks the intellectual and moral acuity to innovate and serve mankind. Thirdly, the Public Service Commission, Commission for University Education (CUE) and Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) have their cut for them: To expeditiously carry out a robust forensic audit of all academic papers.
Let’s not go back to the tragic era of fakes, 2000-2010, when ‘River Road’ certificates were in vogue as kiosk universities dished out bogus degrees.
Meanwhile, let those politicians with dubious papers pull out of the race and go back to school.
Mr Wamanji is a public relations and communication consultant. [email protected]. @manjis
