Category: Uncategorized

By: Frank Oyosa

f.oyosa@gmail.com

Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of Frank Oyosa

Just like the then US Secretary of State George Marshall unveiled America’s unilateral aid to Europe in what is popularly known as The Marshal Plan, so did Daystar University Vice-Chancellor Prof Laban Ayiro, unveil The Marshal Plan to his Post Graduate students! Well, don’t get it twisted. While the contents and intentions of Marshall’s Marshal plan are pretty obvious, Prof Ayiro’s Marshal Plan is nothing close to that.

His recently launched plan is a genuine roadmap that will see all post-graduate students complete their studies on time regardless of the setbacks they may encounter. Coming in at a time when the University was not in its best shape, the VC was disturbed by the high number of post-graduate students pending graduation due to some unavoidable, and well…some avoidable circumstances, way after the 2 years for postgraduate programs elapsed. It is this reality that triggered him to initiate the plan, his dedication and drive to restore the glory of Daystar deer to his heart, and vocal in his voice, his diction, and his actions! 

Kicking off with a post-graduate students’ re-registration exercise to keep, the VC has committed not only his time but resources to this course. He is adamant that all post-graduate students who are on hold or are done with their coursework MUST graduate by December 2021, and going forward, other post-graduate students must graduate within the 2 years.

“This is a course that is deep in my heart and I will go out of my way to see that we reach the promised land.” The conviction with which these words are articulated is enough to dispel any doubt while his track record proves him right, and his deep-rooted faith and trust in God back him up. He is keen to reiterate Daystar University’s Christian foundational values as his guiding principles, and acknowledge the weight of the task ahead often asking God to go before him and his team including the students. 

Interestingly, even though he is surrounded by a team of dedicated Research and Post Graduate studies directorate led by Sr. Prof. Agnes Lando, the VC’s transformational leadership style forbids him from making demands while at the back seat!

He considers this mission a top-notch priority that his schedule has been made flexible enough to accommodate regular meetings with students, to respond to their concerns and thesis queries. He has in the past facilitated various forums aimed at assisting them to refine their thesis, referring to errors he picked by sampling several submissions. Furthermore, these sessions are about to become weekly activities and not even the impact of Covid-19 on physical meetings can derail them nor the ultimate vision. And as if this is not all, he is part of the supervisors currently supervising two Masters and 2 Ph.D. students. 

Meanwhile, in other offices, Sr. Prof. Lando and her team are ever busy attending to students’ matters and ensuring communication is smooth, timely, and relevant. A clear indication that the journey to the promised land is indeed on the right track. Being the administrator of the Post Graduate students’ Telegram forum, she is ever communicating an important update or responding to students’ concerns. 

One wonders if she does sleep. More surprisingly is the promptness, wisdom, and decorum with which she responds to even the most controversial or insulting concern and question. Now meetings have gone online and it’s in her docket to ensure that communication reaches the intended participants on time, the necessary materials are ready for the meetings, chair the meetings and share the materials. And with some students unable to attend the meetings, she is responsible for recording and sharing the video. Yet this is just a quarter of her workload!

Well, she has to do it right? But then she is only human and there is only so much she can take yeah! surprisingly, although we may want to pity her and her team, the only pity she is willing to take is students playing their part. All that is asked of them is to be available when called upon, to fulfill their financial obligations, and to support the plan by any means possible. If that is too much to ask, the VC is not hesitant “…to consider anyone who is not committed to the marshal plan an anti-Daystar.” However as is human nature, some of us have to be pushed even if it is for our benefit, and the post Graduate directorate has dedicated herself to doing just that. 

Meanwhile, the students being the key stakeholders and beneficiaries of this initiative, are obliged to raise concerns they hope to be addressed in a timely and mutually benefiting manner. Thence, besides other concerns, the question of paying extra costs such as activity fee, printing fee and technology fee among others when such services are no longer available have been raised. Other concerns have been re-activation fees for students on hold some of whom have excess fees and removal of or not offering concentration courses in some semesters. Remarkably, the concerned departments have tried their best to respond, and commit to listening to special individual cases. 

It would be impractical not to acknowledge the efforts the directorate is putting in this initiative regardless of the apparent challenges. Likewise, with the VC securing a 1-year amnesty period from the senate for students on hold to graduate, and the online thesis management system in its final stages of the trial, we are obliged to recognize that things are indeed taking shape and they will be better when concerns are addressed and we cooperate.

Meanwhile “…until the day dawns, and the daystar arises in your hearts,” the journey continues.

By Fatiha Shabir

(fatihashabz@gmail.com)

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a law, paving the way for him to run for two more presidential terms, as well as being granted lifetime immunity from prosecution.

The new amendment also outlawed same-sex marriage stating that marriage was strictly a “union of a man and a woman” and that a belief in God is a core belief that every Russian should have.

Putin, who turns 69 this year, is currently serving his fourth presidential term, which is set to end in 2024 according to the previous constitution. The new legislation, could allow him to serve two more six year terms, potentially extending his rule until 2036. That is if he chooses to stand for and win re-election both times.

The new law formalizes the results of last year’s referendum on amendments to Russia’s constitution. The majority of Russians voted to approve Mr. Putin’s amendments to the country’s constitution last year, with 78% of votes supporting the change and just over 21% voting against it. The turnout was recorded as 68%.

He argued that resetting the term count was necessary to keep his lieutenants focused on their work instead of “darting their eyes in search for possible successors.”

If Putin is re-elected twice and serves to the end of the second term, he will beat Josef Stalin to become the longest-serving leader of Russia since Peter the Great, who was in power for 42 years. 

By Nicholas Kweyu

(nicholaskweyu99@gmail.com)

On Monday, Minneapolis Chief of Police Medaria Arradondo, testified that Chauvin’s conduct in the arrest of George Floyd was not in line with training. He said that it in fact breached regulations by showing “disregard for the sanctity of life”.

“Clearly when Mr. Floyd was no longer responsive and even motionless, to continue to apply that level of force to a person prone out, hands cuffed behind their back- that in no way, shape or forms is anything that is by policy,” said Arradondo. “It’s not part of our training and it’s certainly not part of our ethics or values.”

He also explained that officers are trained to handle people with dignity and respect. Moreover, they are also given basic first aid training such as using an inhaler to reverse an opioid overdose or handling a bleeding gunshot victim.

This was spurred by the prosecutor pointing out that Chauvin and the other officers had failed to provide medical assistance to Floyd when he stopped breathing.

Having been at home during the situation, Arradondo observed the arrest from the bystander video. From this, he could see how long Chauvin had kept Floyd pinned face down and that Chauvin had used more than the allowed “light-to-moderate” pressure. The chief therefore concluded that it was a breach of his department’s principles and values.

According to law experts who track police prosecutions, it is a highly unusual occurrence for a police chief to provide evidence against one of their own officers. It should, however, be noted that Arradondo, who is the city’s first black chief of police, fired Chauvin and three other officers the day after the arrest.

This testimony pokes holes in the defense’s theory that Chauvin’s actions during the arrest of George Floyd were based on and in line with the training he had received in his 19 years on the force.

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By: Sumaya Hussein

(husseinsumaya1@gmail.com)

The University Management together with the Machakos County Government has organized a Covid-19 vaccination exercise that will take place on Friday at the Athi River campus.

The exercise will run from 11am and priority will be given to staff above 50 years of age. However, others interested in receiving the vaccine are welcome to do so, regardless of their age.

“Let me remind all of us that this is voluntary as earlier stated by our VC when he took his vaccination a while back, and our government as well” said HR Manager, Pius Muia, in an email to Daystar staff.

Those willing to be vaccinated, including students, have been requested to register with the HR via email.

The Vice Chancellor Prof Laban Ayiro, had previously encouraged members of the Daystar community to get vaccinated, shortly after receiving his jab on March 23.

“Let us prop our bodies’ defense mechanism and immunity by taking the COVID-19 vaccine shot, even as we pray to God to build a hedge around our community, nation and the world at large,” said Prof. Ayiro.

By: Sumaya Hussein

(husseinsumaya1@gmail.com)

Marco Laboso has won the Daystar University Students Association (DUSA) elections as the Chair or President, with Monicah Gitau as his deputy.

The two candidates won after receiving 33 out of the 35 electoral college votes that were casted by the congress members. Only one member did not vote.

“I just want to thank everyone for the support. It has been a tough journey and I thank God too. I am ready to serve Daystarians and work diligently,” said Mr. Laboso.

He further stated that he is ready to work with his opponent Ian Agina, to “push the student’s agenda forward”.

The elections were conducted online today from 10am to 1pm and the process was shared on Zoom for interested parties to observe. The results were released hours later by the Electoral Commission of Daystar (ECD) who congratulated all successful candidates.

Other winners of the council include Campus Governors Walter Nalwa (Athi River) and Brian “Zaza” Achoka (V.Road), Paul Caleb (Msando) as Secretary General, and Wambui Njoroge, who took up the highly contested treasurer seat.

The International Students Association of Daystar University (ISADU) chair, was taken by Flavian Ndikumasaba, who will represent all the international students of Daystar in the council.

Campus Governor Athi River, Walter Nalwa says his first order of business will be to put the main campus “in order”.

“As at now, we want to make sure that all the promises we made to the students, administration, support staff and to everyone in the Daystar community is well catered for,” said Mr. Nalwa, “We will keep championing for 100% service delivery to students.”

Ian Agina, opponent of Mr. Laboso, has accepted the results of today’s elections and congratulated the winners.

“The congress men and women have chosen our leaders and I am fully confident that they picked whom they found fit for each position,” said Mr. Agina.

“Mine is to congratulate them and wish them well in their term of service.”

By: Sumaya Hussein

(husseinsumaya1@gmail.com)

Desh Care International (DCI), a student-led organization, on Saturday provided free and fresh water to locals living around Daystar University.

The organization pitched a Clean Water truck in the areas of Kwa Wanubi, Sokoni and Pioneer, where people were invited to fetch water from 10am to 4pm.

“You find around Daystar, people are really struggling to access water so, we saw it would be really nice for us to team up and contribute among ourselves to give water to the community,” said Dennis Mavia, CEO and Founder of DCI.

Over 500 people from the community turned up to fetch the clean water.

DCI is a charitable foundation that provides basic needs and sanitary towels to less fortunate kids in the slums.

Formed in 2020, the organization’s management mainly consists of Daystar students who came together to help address issues of poverty, lack of clean water, education and sanitary towels.

Moreover, they educate the public on importance of hygiene and ways of ensuring food security, as well as empower young girls.

“We have a team of coordinators and contact tracing agents who go to the slums and carefully look for those girls who are really in need and cannot provide for themselves. We then take their names and provide sanitary towels to them on a monthly basis,” said Mr. Mavia.

The organization currently provides sanitary towels to 300 girls every month.

In matters of education, DCI contacts families that cannot afford school fees and helps to enroll their children into good schools.

Since its founding, the organization has helped over 1000 girls in Kibera and are hoping to reach out to and help more than a million girls in all slums.

By: Nicholas Kweyu

(nicholaskweyu99@gmail.com)

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s trial for the murder of George Floyd began on Monday. The incident which occurred in May 2020 sparked widespread protests against police brutality and racism as the white police officer was caught on video holding his knee against the neck of the black victim.

Chauvin is now facing charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter all for which he has pleaded not guilty.

Just prior to the beginning of the trial, Floyd’s family, their lawyer, Benjamin Crump, and the Reverend Al Sharpton took a knee outside a county government center for eight minutes and forty-six seconds. This was the estimated amount of time that Chauvin had knelt on Floyd’s neck and has now come to symbolize the latter’s death.

During opening statements, the prosecutor, Jerry Black well, played a video recorded by a bystander showing Chauvin kneeling on Floyd while restraining him and stating that it was “a homicide”.

“On May 25th of 2020, Mr. Derek Chauvin betrayed this badge when he used excessive and unreasonable force upon the body of Mr. George Floyd,” said Blackwell.

Countering the claim that Chauvin directly caused Floyd’s death, Derek Chauvin’s Defense attorney Eric Nelson stated that Floyd’s death was caused by a cardiac arrhythmia which was caused by a number of factors.

These included the use of drugs, Floyd’s pre-existing coronary disease and adrenaline which all “acted to further compromise an already compromised heart”. Nelson also told the jury that the use of force while not attractive, was a necessary component of policing.

The jury has now heard testimony from eleven witnesses as of the third day of the case.

911 dispatcher Jena Lee Scurry testified on Monday and said how she watched the surveillance footage of the officers restraining George Floyd. She noted that the officers had held him down for so long that she asked someone “if the screens were frozen”. Following an instinct that something was not right, she said she called the sergeant.

Donald Williams, an MMA fighter who testified on Tuesday, said that he witnessed Chauvin holding Floyd in a “blood choke”. He admitted to calling 911 after Floyd was taken away on an ambulance.

“I did call the police on the police,” he said. “I believe I had witnessed a murder.”

“The man stopped breathing. He wasn’t resisting arrest or nothing. He was already in handcuffs. They pretty much just killed that dude — I don’t even know if he’s dead for sure, but he was not responsive when the ambulance just came and got him,” Williams said on the audio of the call which was played in the courtroom.

On the same day, Daniella Frazier, who recorded the video of Floyd’s arrest that went viral, also testified.

“I heard George Floyd saying ‘I can’t breathe. Please, get off of me. I can’t breathe.’ He cried for his mom. He was in pain,” she said. “It seemed like he knew, it seemed like he knew it was over for him. He was terrified. He was suffering. This was a cry for help, definitely.”

On Wednesday, the court heard testimony from Christopher Martin, the Cup Food Cashier who had served Floyd on the day of the incident. Martin testified that he noticed the $20 bill that Floyd paid with was fake but he still accepted it. He said that Floyd seemed high and therefore was not aware that the bill was fake.

“I thought I’d be doing him a favour,” said Martin.

He went on to recount how his manager asked him and another employee to follow Floyd and ask him to come back inside to discuss the situation. When Floyd refused, a coworker called 911.

On the fourth day of the trial, George Floyd’s girlfriend, Courtney Ross, testified of their shared issues with opioids sparing no details. She even recounted past overdose episodes.

“We both tried really hard to break that addiction many times,” she said but added that she believes addiction to be a lifelong struggle.

Ross said that they both became addicted to opioids after suffering from chronic back pain.

Although seemingly helpful to Chauvin’s case, airing Floyd’s drug struggle was apparently a legal maneuver by prosecutors according to former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance.

“They’re educating the jury about the fact even if the drugs in George Floyd’s system contributed in some way to his death, that importantly he was brought back in earlier overdose situations with medical treatment which wasn’t provided here.” Said Vance following Ross’ testimony.

The trial is set to run for about four weeks with the case being made up of 12 jurors. For their safety, the jurors’ faces will not be revealed on camera and they will not be referred to by name despite the trial being recorded and broadcast. The only information available about the members of the jury is that they are diverse in age and ethnicity.

According to the Star-Tribune, the jury includes “a multi-race woman in her 20s, a multi-race woman in her 40s, two Black men in their 30s, a Black man in his 40s, a Black woman in her 60s, four white women in their 50s, a white woman in her 40s, a white woman in her 20s, a white man in his 30s and two white men in their 20s.”

By Hilmelda Tenkeu

(hilmeldatenkeu@gmail.com)

Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of http://hi.photoslurp.com/

Gone are the days were having a formal education and obtaining a degree was the goal. With evolution and globalization, the goal is making money and “living the life”. Therefore, it is not surprising to see a TV host dressed by popular designers, with 1 million+ followers on Instagram or social media at large.

A professional in a particular field conforms to the technical and ethical standards of a profession. They go through a defined period of training aimed at acquiring a skill that will be applied to solve a problem, in exchange for payment (although not always). On the other hand, an influencer is a person or group that can influence the behavior, actions and/or opinions of others.

Influencers are hired and paid according to their degree of impact on the population, that is, via the number of followers and likes/views that they have on social media. Therefore, they create content frequently in order to entertain and keep their followers. They trade their experiences and lifestyles for visibility. The more visibility, the more money they are paid to advertise a product, be a brand ambassador, and many other gigs. Professionals on the other side, are hired to offer a particular skill for which they have trained and obtained a certificate of learning. Thus, they have to acquire a skill, prove that they master it by practicing, and lastly, practicing it over a long period. The longer the experience, the more expensive their service becomes. This is especially true with media.

In media, especially in front of the cameras, experience is absolutely rewarding. For instance, Caroline Mutoko is a media icon in Kenya today but she has been practicing for more than 15 years. She has now mastered what to say or not, what the audience wants to hear or not, how to approach a technical topic and other critical aspects of hosting a show or talking on TV and radio. However, there is a new tendency of hiring influencers to host TV and radio shows.

It seems like the focus has changed from doing the job well and informing the audience while making money, to solely making money. The new focus involves hiring influencers that have a huge following on social media and using that already established visibility to set the trend. This completely changes the cycle. Yesteryears, media would determine the trend: what was acceptable or not, what music to consume or not, and what movie to watch or not. But these days, the followers set the pace and this is not always right or moral at all.

Also, hiring influencers as media personalities trivializes the job. When a person who has not trained and mastered the art of transmitting information in a way that is pleasant to the ears takes that job, it makes it look easy. Being fluent and eloquent is not enough to work in media. There are technicalities that one has to learn. There are regulations that have been put in place by different regulatory bodies that need to be respected. Owning a youtube channel or indulging in live videos on social media are not near similar to talking on TV or radio. In the former situation, influencers are often their own producers and editors whereas, in the latter situation, they have to adhere to principles of media and talking to a diverse audience.

Another important point that is often neglected is lifestyle. Influencers can often afford to live a lifestyle that professionals cannot. A Cameroonian influencer once said, “ in one month, I can make money that a trained journalist will never make until the dawn of his career”. As heavy as the statement is, it is true. Influencers are endorsed by brands based on the number of followers. If they have a great reach, they are paid a good deal as well. Hence, when they are hired as media personalities, their salary is not the same as that of the professional. The professional feels undermined as though they made a wrong choice to spend 4 years and more studying and training for this profession. This can be frustrating and therefore, explains why some professionals have become influencers. For instance, Jeff Koinange, “the voice” who works at Citizen TV, now calls himself an influencer. He is endorsed by huge brands for ads.

Moreover, less than a year ago, a new TV channel was launched in Cote d’Ivoire. Five of the news anchors and hosts are influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers. This is clearly a strategy from the owners of the TV channel to; have a ready-made viewership and immediately be the top channel in the country. Well, several conventional viewers and professionals of the field have condemned this, terming it “too easy”. But the question is: how much are they paid? This amount should be enormous, given that these influencers have altered their schedules and have had to reject some endorsement opportunities.

In Kenya however, hiring influencers as media personalities has not worked so well. Recently, a radio host was fired for going against company policies in speech. When asked about this happening, Berna Akang, a communication student, said “well, these are the results of hiring non-trained people to do a job that demands time, watching what we say and how we say it… I prefer going through the training, getting the job, and building my brand so as to become an influencer, instead of starting as an influencer. It just does not cut it for me”. Clearly, the world is now digital, and technology has the final say.

Media actors and decision-makers have to sit and redefine who a journalist is and is not. The structure and principles of being a media personality have to be rethought as well, taking into consideration the introduction of influencers. What started as including comedians as co-hosts for fun interviews, has taken another turn.