When Will We Return to Class? Finalists Frustrated as Varsity Strike Takes Root

Moi University students have experienced a bumpy start to the 2024-2025 academic year. This is in light of the strike by lecturers and university staff for two months, without a guiding light towards resumption.

The scorch of the strike has taken a toll on the students’ time, financial ends, and mental health. They have been greeted with a series of memos signed by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Kosgey. The most recent memo directed students to vacate campus premises as the University council works to ensure the resumption of operations. But patience is highly perishable.

Students looking to conclude their studies have endured this sting the most, as each day that passes spells doom for them.

Joy Akeyo, a fourth-year student and representative of the Bachelor of Arts (BA) German class, has given an insider look at the gloomy reality haunting her during these trying times.

“We were supposed to be in class by September 3rd, today is October 15th. The Administration is asking us to stay calm. I have spent a lot of money and resources yet there is nothing that I’m doing here on campus,” she opined.

Akeyo has continued to elaborate on the horrendous ordeal occasioned by the students’ demos, which were meant to reject the move to close the University indefinitely, saying, “Psychologically, I am not okay because whatever I witnessed during those protests, I don’t think I can ever heal from that. I personally experienced police brutality.”

Frankline Mwiti, a fourth-year Linguistics, Media and Communication (LMC) student, has voiced his displeasure with the status quo, aligning his words with the history of strikes within Moi University.

“Being a student at Moi University is not easy. Struggling through strikes that keep learning at bay awaiting solutions which never fill the blanks. This is the second strike I am witnessing and amidst both, a semester or two have been wasted,” he orated.

Mwiti has further expressed his misplaced faith in the efforts to salvage the lost time, calling for the parties in a stalemate to reach a common ground for improving the Institution. “My plea to stakeholders is to let their guild come up with a long-lasting solution for the betterment of Moi University,” he noted.

Givens Chanzu, a fourth-year LMC student also tapped into the matter, saying, “As a final year student, I feel frustrated with no hope of finalizing my studies anytime soon. It's hard to go back home because we left home to change home.”

Vilton Franklin, a Communication and Public Relations student awaiting graduation, has illuminated his tensions pointing the finger at the state of completion within Moi University.

“It is almost a year since we completed school. No complete marks and no signs of graduation. Training teachers are missing internship opportunities, lawyers are missing registration into the Kenya Law School, and faculties have not even released any graduation list for students’ perusal,” Vilton said.

He concluded by mentioning the need for the university to make a final stand on this year’s graduation, stating, “I think it would be wise if the school could make a stand on the state of graduation, initially planned for December 5, 2024, so that we can fully focus on our “mjengo” (construction) jobs for another year.”