Dear World, Kenya.
RE: EBK ACCREDITATION STATUS OF THE MMUST UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING PROGRAMMES
The Engineers’ Board of Kenya (EBK) is a constitutional body in Kenya which is fully mandated with regulation of practice of engineering in Kenya. EBK for that matter accredits undergraduate engineering programmes in the Kenyan universities. Once a course is accredited, the graduates of that course can then be registered with EBK as engineers. This presents to these graduates the basic legal permission to practice engineering in Kenya. Without this permit it is illegal for any graduate of engineering in Kenya to practice engineering or to be employed to practice engineering.
Masinde Muliro University if Science and Technology (MMUST) started as a constituent of Moi University in the Western Kenya. It got fully chartered by the government of Kenya in 2007 to run on its own as a public university. This gave the Senate of MMUST the authority to start academic programmes and to implement them fully. The Government of Kenya from this point fully funds any public university (not only MMUST) to implement all of its programmes fully and constitutionally. This means that the administration of MMUST has the full capacity in terms of authority and resources to implement the Enginnering programmes fully to the letter according to the full requirements of the constitution - in that saying, the Government of Kenya cannot be illegal.
MMUST has for decades admitted students including Engineering Students. These admissions have gone on for the decades without the university getting its programmes to be EBK accredited. Until this time, there is no progress in the accreditation process that the EBK has gazetted. This is unlike other universities in Kenya which have now gotten all of their programmes to be EBK accredited.
All of these get to mean doom upon these undergraduate students who graduate from the university into a professional world in which they are irrelevant in totality with regard to their degree. These are students who spend millions of hard earned cash on their education. They have work tirelessly and hardest to attain the best grades at all levels that could land them in undergraduate engineering programmes.
What really is happening? Why has the university administration never gotten these programmes to be accredited by EBK?
The immediate previous administration, which was headed by Professor Wangila, is said to have never done anything about the matter. This is credible as the accreditation board never communicated anything which could ever have indicated progress in the accreditation process. With the present administration, headed by Professor Fred Otieno, we can say that there has not been any progress in this matter. The universities which get accredited hold consultative meetings and deliberations with EBK. The EBK offers guidelines that such universities are expected to follow all the way until they get EBK accredited.
Whatsoever is going on with regard to MMUST, at present, mostly is a supremacy battle. It is one supremacy battle in which the university administration is engaging the EBK. There is no other explanation for the continuity of this problem in MMUST alone while other public universities get through in a matter of just a couple of months. The current Vice Chancellor (VC), Professor Fred Otieno, is a senior engineer who has worked for several years in South Africa. While in South Africa he has been a part of the engineering programme accreditation body for South Africa.
Coming to Kenya where he has no equal space in the EBK. He finds himself as a VC in an institution offering unaccredited engineering courses. He is required to comply with the EBK and get the courses accredited. He, most likely, stops and first of all compares the EBK with the system of accreditation in South Africa. The two systems are different and he most likely feels that he cannot bow to the Kenyan system which he probably finds to be inferior or uncomfortable. It is also humiliating to subject a ‘big’ man who has been scrutinizing other people elsewhere to similar scrutiny in which he probably feels unrecognised for all that he has become or done. It takes purpose to such a person to wrestle down the ‘big’ man feeling. But what happens if the big man syndrome meets an ‘inferior’ system? He then gets the urge to challenge it for personal reasons and the supremacy battle is on. He tries single-handedly fight the EBK and he fails properly. The only option he sees next apart from throwing in the towel is one and as Kiswahili puts it, “Fahali wawili wakipigana, nyasi huumia”. The students go on graduating with degrees in non-accredited programmes and the result thrills the big-man. How is the big man thrilled? The big man is thrilled in the light of the hope that the suffering students may fight with the EBK, the suffering students may be pitied by the nation upon which point the nation possibly through its careful president will ‘force’ the accreditation process or the parliament will scrap off the EBK.
It is coming from yesterday (22nd July, 2015 at about 4 pm and for about 22 minutes that I was on a phone call with the VC that I can report part of these findings especially those that are specifically about him. The phone call revealed that he was a member of an accreditation board in South Africa and that he understands how the process should go. The question is, why is it not happening? Which way should it go? Is that not how it is going with the EBK? He was suggesting that the students should visit the EBK and be told of why the process takes long. The question to ask is? Is it the role of the students? Is it the EBK answerable to the students directly or it happens through the admin? What does it insinuate when the admin sends the students directly? Seriousness? Incitation? Defeat? Is this acceptable anywhere for God’s sake?
The administration of MMUST has never availed a copy of any papers sent by EBK to them yet they receive these papers on behalf of the students and they act for the students. Transparency? None. Is anyone supposed to believe Professor Otieno when he says that they are “on top of the matter”? The may be on top of the matter but doing the wrong/useless things. Proof? Those VCs who are on top of the matter and are doing the right and useful stuff get the accreditation in a matter of months- live manifestations in our sight. We at MMUST wonder with awe about the miracle that go on around. Fighting with the EBK is not the way to “be on top of the matter”. Complying with the body is the way since the EBK is constitutional and for that matters legally established.
The dailies reflect that nothing has been done over this matter. Yet the administration of MMUST unlike others has never countered these defaming reports issued by the media. What do you get to think? Do you think that if the media was wrong about them they could have ever gone without challenging the media? If the media was wrong, do you think the EBK could not have responded to false allegations laid upon their accredited university? The media has aired this matter through the ages and continually. It has been aired constantly throughout last week and this week. Our students, more so, the graduates are extremely defamed by this time with no defence having ever been sent in their way by the admin. Is the administration any serious? Who is responsible for the woes of the MMUST engineering students?
The EBK communicates any developments regarding accreditation for any institution on the dailies. The EBK has nothing to say about MMUST in the gazette. In a clear understanding of these matters, the Engineering Students Association (ESA), on the 19th of July, 2015, called upon the Engineering Students to suspend their participation in the academic programmes at MMUST until the time will come when these programmes are all accredited and publicly gazetted by the EBK. This letter which was addressed to the students was copied to the University Senate, the Dean of Engineering Faculty and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
When the VC called me yesterday, it was the first call ever that he was making to since we took office in April. ESA has kept him updated about the troubles of the engineering students. He has been fully aware of the situation on the ground with all of the heat amongst the students. We have written up to four letters addressing these hefty matters but we has never received any response from him. He has said one thing repeatedly through WhatsApp, “tell the students to keep calm.’’ This is regardless of all that is herein aforementioned. Apart from this, the VC gave information outward to the students which is not supported by any official document reporting the EBK feedback.
In the phone call that he made, the VC only aimed at threatening ESA, seeking to intimidate us, to manipulate us and to use us in the fight against EBK. All records lie with ESA which support any stand we take. The greatest perpetrator of the woes of the students is the VC of the university who is in charge of the administration. If anything in this report should be wrong, let Professor Otieno challenge it.
And for all matters herein contained we ardently are advising the students who are prospecting to join MMUST for engineering to suspend all of their prospects not to go through these very woes. We are advising the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to redirect the admission of these students to other universities within Kenya which are already EBK accredited in their undergraduate engineering programmes.
We wish to let the nation and the world know that we have taken all of the steps herein mentioned to see to it that we will get EBK accredited. We call upon the well-wishers in these matter to join us in our quest. We are seeking that our administration should get our courses to be EBK accredited. Let the university produce official, original documents supporting claims that it is making any progress in this matter. We seek that the nation should question our administration thoroughly over this matter.
Dear Kenyans also beware of the fact that official and original (unedited) documents from EBK should be the indicators of any progress. The EBK communicates to the nation through gazetted public notices. We are waiting for communication declari
