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University of Nairobi being one institution of excellence aiming at being a world class institution is one of those public institutions where the bureaucracy associated with public service has taken root (in this digital age). You will be taken from one office to another in the name of getting what you want. And you have to pay for whatever you want. UON has a culture of demanding more money yet they giving back your money can be a real hustle, so like tax rebates, you let them have it. I am sure they still have my money but because I am not ready to fork out more money in order to get the paltry figure, I have let the money go just like that.
Again if I paid to get back my money, I would still not get it in hard cash though I don't mind being given books. A certain friend told me she was requested to go to UNES get books in exchange for her money. I love reading books but not everyone loves books. Some people like spending their hard earned cash (even if it was paid by the folks).
UON prides in being the best institution in the country, all right. It should be having systems aimed at making it easy for students to easily enjoy living in it and transcending from it. Partly I have to blame myself for having gone through a process that made me disheveled at the end of the day. My only worry goes to my friend who lives upcountry and has not returned his hired graduation gown back to the school. Each day you will be forced to fork out Sh.50 having the gown past the required deadline. In a month you part with Sh.1500, ouch! Concerning the hiring of the gown, I thought they would refund us the money like some institutions do. How wrong I was.
My wide of the mark was losing my clearance form and a signed graduation form indicating I had already cleared from our school. I went to Chiromo to collect my certificate from the examination centre and was informed I could only be able to collect the certificate if only I could produce the forms. In Chiromo, I was aptly advised to go back to my school to go get the signed graduation form I had retained with our school. That is where my woes started. For a whole day, I was to look for a document that would have taken me just a few minutes to get.
I went to our school where I was told to go to the person I had left my graduation gowns with who had cleared me in the graduate computer room. The person was apparently on leave and as such could not assist me with a copy of the signed graduation form. The person who was now in charge could not assist me either. I was perturbed. I had lost my form and the concerned parties could not be able to locate where they had placed my other form. How careless can people be, especially an institution. I bet on my side, it had to do with misplacement as I had forgotten where I had placed them, hence I could not be able to trace the forms.
The best solution to reduce the impasse that would have ensured I was advised was to go to the college registrar to be issued with a new clearance form. There I was told that the only way they could be able to assist me was only if I paid for stamp fees for the processing of new forms. By then it was past one, so I went to the nearby Barclays Bank and paid the requisite amount. Luckily the Bank operates efficiently since it did not have a long queue and I was attended to within a few minutes.
By the time I exited from the bank, it was still the period within lunch break and I also went for lunch. At exactly 1400 hrs I was back at the registrar’s office to be given my two forms - clearance and graduation form. However, the aid I was seeking was not to be. Those charged with offering services in the office had gone for a meeting and could not be back in until further notice. That I was disappointed was an underestimation.
A certain lady in a red skirt who I had earlier found in the office was not of help either. I forgot that red means danger. The lady was dangerous though deviously. She was in the office but blatantly refused to answer my questions. “Can’t you see I am headed to a meeting,” she said rudely when I asked her to assist me. “When are you likely to come back?” I inquired. At that point, she kept mum and sneeringly looked at me (those lady looks of 'UTADO?'). We were with a certain chap who also wanted help, but her reaction said it all. She was not going to assist us.
My annoyance turned into laughter. I was dealing with people who have little regard for those they are to serve yet in public service there is a motto that goes 'Utumishi kwa wote' (that's for the police though). I asked the sentry who was nearby on the possibility of being served on that day but he also had no clue. I was hence forced to go outside to think of another solution since this one had already backfired.
I decided to go back to our school where I was directed to go to one Mr. Karimi (forgotten his name though), senile and on the brink of retirement and probably suffering from mental infirmity. He was not around and this only meant that I had to go back to the registrar to check if they had terminated the meeting they had been having.
Then a good idea came into mind. What if I went to the college bursar to help me with the issue of the forms since I had already paid for the forms I was seeking? The lady at the bursar was very helpful. Even though there were very many students and former students who needed to be attended to, I was duly given an audience.
Upon checking my bank receipt and finding out that the amount had not been reflected in the school account, I was told to go wait outside for about an hour so that the figure could be ratified. Yet I had a receipt. Technology is very slow sometimes. So I went outside and sat on the benches within Chancellors court as I waited for the amount to be reflected.
I went and sat next to some dudes who were engaged in palaver like those on "Ni gumzo mtaani". Men can sometimes be very petty and finicky. They are very good in discussing trivial issues that you may find utterly hackneyed. The dudes were discussing about a certain chic who was had driven his boyfriend nuts to a point where bloke broke up with her because the boy had no money of his own. Only means men must be up to task and take responsibility.
In fact, one dude was talking about how the chic could call the boyfriend to inquire whether he had already cooked, washed the clothes and other household chores that we, Kenyan men, consider as reserved for women. The said lady could even come with her lady friends to the house and order her man around and make him feel she was the one in charge especially when she hosted parties.
The said chap had decided to call it quits when he could not hold it anymore. The lady was frustrating him because she was from a family where the dad was kind of affluent, had got her a good job and she could be able to rent a decent house. The dude on the other hand was from a humble background and could not fit into the shoes of the hubby to be, years after exiting campus.
What incensed the boyfriend was the fact that the chic had reduced her to a valet, a driver and a gold digger. Once the chic was headed to Ngong road to attend to her job engagements, the dude thought of using Lang’ata road since it normally has no jam while the chic insisted on using Ngong road. When the boy insisted and headed using the direction he wanted because he was driving, he was told “Kwani gari ni yako ndio unaendesha vile unataka.”
It got worse when the lady would come home with different men and order the man around like he was some puppet and a maid to do one two three. This was the epitome of telling the man, "I don't give a shit about you dude. I got the money and i can get a man on rent."
The dude got virtually piqued and since they could no longer rhyme because the lady was continually debasing him even though they lived in Westlands. He packed his things and went back to Eastlands to live with his ‘maboys’ as he chatted his way forward.
One dude also talked of some ladies who have a lot of money more than their men but because the bible talks of wives submitting to their husbands, such ladies give their men the authority to control finances without belittling their men. In their opinion, such ladies were however rare to find in Nairobi.
The stories captivating but I also had to work with time. Even though I had the whole day, I told myself that I was obviously going to blog about that story. It's originality was something I found transfixing. I never wanted to wake up from my seat.
At that point I rose up and went back to the bursar’s office since it was past an hour. The lady who had earlier on attended to me had forgotten to tell me to come back with a graduation form that needed to be stamped. She therefore directed me to go to the bureaus that offer photocopying services for the graduation forms. I took the forms and also photocopied the bank receipt before heading back to the bursar’s office.
However, I had forgotten my bank receipt while photocopying it at the bureau. Upon arrival at the bursar's with a clone of the bank receipt, I was directed back to go for the original since they never deal with duplicates. Then it was past 1600hrs. There I met other students who were seeking for wide ranging services.
While waiting for my form to be acted upon, I decided to chat with another lady who was waiting to be cleared having returned her graduation gown late. She told me that even though she had paid school fees in excess, the account was different from the one that she was to pay the fine for late return of the graduation gown.
I told her that there was a possibility of having the funds transferred to that account required because they all belong to the university. She however apprised me she had been advised that in order to be cleared faster, she had to pay the fine in the account she had been directed for ease of facilitation.
As a lady she had been dejected and disillusioned by the system and staff as this was like the third day she had gone back to school seeking for clearance. On that fateful day, she was to pay an extra sh.100 because that was essentially the day noted she had returned the gown. In her opine, making the payments was not a problem as long as she was done with the university business and eventually collecting her certificate.
She also brought me up to speed on the issue of her friend who failed to sit for her exams because she had gone for a graduation ceremony of a kin and while coming back, the lady got involved in an accident and could not be able to sit for her exams. That meant she had to ask for special exams. However when the lady went to inquire for those exams, the lecturer in charge of authorizing her to sit for the special exams told her to go to the school clinic to get clearance even though the lady was actually limping. It was like I had become a Robert Alai even though I barely knew the lady we were conversing.
On arrival in the school clinic, the nurse told her the clinic had no facilities to diagnose the extent of her injury and hence she was directed elsewhere. Then you realize that even though UON produces the best doctors in the country it has no facilities to serve its students when the school requires to check for something substantive to prevent students for engaging in hoax.
I was mesmerized how that could be but since I could not be able to verify the accuracy of the information, I forgot to tell her to tell the friend to either contact the dean of students or the student body organ to aid her in her quest for justice. But some lecturers think they own the school, they act with such pride and absurdity you would think they rival peacocks. One in our school was a former don in the Red nation nicknamed Uncle Raucous or Sniffer Dog.
My forms were brought back and I was destined for the school to get the requisite clearance necessary which was in form of a getting the graduation clearance form stamped and signed by the person clearing students to indicate that I had actually delivered my graduation gown. That I was exhausted was not a lie.
The whole day I had been up and about only looking for one form (I was not given a clearance form even though I had paid for it). I thought of the fact that the university had made it a mandate to ensure that students are cleared online. Why was it impossible to clear students online so that they could be able to only go and collect certificates upon graduation using their National IDs? If one could be able to clear with the library, hostel and other departments online, why was this process now very lengthy to get one form?
My worst nightmare had not yet ended. In the computer lab, I never found a person who could sign my form to indicate I had returned my graduation gown. I remembered I had been told to contact one Mr. Karimi to help out. I never knew him even though I had been in that school for close to 5 years (2010-2014) .
I asked the secretary on the where abouts of Mr. Karimi. She told me to explain to her why I wanted to see Mr. Karimi. I told her it was concerning the issue of graduation form. Since Mr. Karimi was seated by her side, she told him to assist me where necessary.
Mr. Karimi came and saw the form that I wanted him to sign. I explained to him that I initially intended to ask for a copy from him but decided to use the legal procedure of paying for the form as required by UON. At that point, he became furious and kind of retreated back. He was of the opinion that I was blackmailing him into signing a document having returned my graduation gowns late.
I tried to explain to him that the reason I had resorted to him for assistance was because Jacktone who had signed my forms upon return of the gown was on leave and he should kindly help out me since he was the only person available then to offer the service then. He told me he was not the person who had signed the document and as such, I needed to wait for Jacktone or find him to sign the forms. But Jacktone was on leave, and as such, I asked him to call him or he gives me his phone number but he refused to heed the two suggestions. At that point we were exchanging words and no communication was taking place.
Oh boy! He went back and sat on his seat and vowed cursing that he was not going to sign the document no matter what. I stood my ground and tried to explain to him the reason why he should sign it. But amid explaining to him, he interrupted my thought process.
At that point, I got annoyed and told him not to interrupt me while speaking due to emotional outrage. We needed to be communicating in a way that he lets me talk and he listens and vice versa. There is no way I was going to convince him to sign the document having ultimately decided on my fate while at the same time he was busy disrupting me from making my assertion.
He got pissed off when I told him that we need to communicate and not talk at each other yet we were all grown ups of sane minds. It was like we were arguing. Since we were talking in Swahili, I switched to English to see if I could be able to aptly convince him.
My main drive was that the only thing I needed from him was a signature having done the due process of returning the gown without fault and even signing against the date of return. Why was it then becoming an issue when he only needed to counter-check that I had done the same if he could not trust me? My main fault was misplacing the documents that I needed to use to get my certificate, I explained to him. I also tried to explain to him that there was a book indicating that I had signed and returned the gowns but he could hear none of it as he was on his phone again shaking his head. He had henceforth vowed not to sign my document. I even pleaded with him showing him the bank receipt and the new document that had been signed by the bursar’s office on that very day. Still he was adamant.
At that point, the secretary who was listening to the drama unfolding decided to interject. She told Mr. Karimi that in order to solve the issue, he should go and check whether or not I had signed the document indicating I had returned the gown to the school.
It is then that Mr. Karimi saw sense in what I was telling him. I had been frustrated for a whole day and leaving without the necessary signature and stamp was not what I was supposed to go through. It was a simple process and albeit I was kind of tired, I still had the impetus of clearing with the school once and for all.
Having been convinced by the secretary, Mr. Karimi rose up and went to the computer lab following me looking kind of red having decided to do what he had vowed and cursed not to do. My gratitude goes to the secretary for listening and decoding the message without prejudice or taking a hard-line stance. What happened to customer service and good PR relations irrespective of who you are and where you are from in this school?
When we went to the lab where I was supposed to aid him in locating my name. He told me to sit further away as he counter-checked for my name using the form I had given him. I looked around sheepishly as I waited to be served. He checked the book for about five minutes before he called me closer to show him my name. I did that and at that point, Mr. Karimi signed my papers after confirming that I had ideally returned the gown before the due deadline. I was calm and collected all along having won this round but I did pity the old man. I left him sitting fazed. He had not acted like a sober and sagacious person in executing his duties. The way he walked and his face confirmed that he was kind of sorry but his macho nature could not let him apologize for having frustrated me.
I stepped out tentatively and went back to the secretary and she stamped the papers without any ado. She grinned and gave me back my papers. By then it was past 1700hrs but I still thought that I could make it to Chiromo Exam Centre and convince those charged to aid me in getting my certificate since I urgently needed it for the purpose of applying for a job that needed it. However, I only found the sentries who told me that the issuance of the certificates was done for the day. I walked back dejected having witnessed the bureaucracy of public institutions first hand.
I was weary but still had a brave face. If I went through a whole day while others take years before they are served, then I bet this could be rectified for the process to be faultless, flawless and less time consuming. This ideology of making people to pay each and every time they mess up is like forcing man to be ideal. We are never all going to be responsible all of us. Even if you are responsible to the core, there are those times you will be human and mess. Human is to fault and as such we should be aware that things are bound to happen. If we don’t mess up, we might think things are alright but when they decide to crumble after one mess, that is the point we realize that we should put measures that are also human and can be able to mitigate errors and serve our interests and those of others without infringing on the rights we have been accorded and rightfully need to exercise without fear or favour.
PS: I hope the institution rectifies some of the little follies that may besmirch the strong brand and good name they have had for a while. Again it is the small things that matter. I may not have the clout of making a change but I have a platform that helps me out.
SITUONANE.
[Photo Source: CGTextures]
