CERTIFICATES OF DOOM APPEARS LIKE A FRAUD.

Dennis Okari is a brilliant journo. Nice. He is a graduate of Kenya Institute of Mass Communication. Big Up Bro. He has worked for BBC. Perfect. He has worked in all the big media houses in Kenya. Wow (Am even jealous). And he recently did #CerficatesOfDooom. Bingo. It was a well-documented and researched expose on the rot in the Kenya Education System. Sad and Mortifying.

The moment I saw the advert that the expose was to be at the prime time news of 2100hrs (I was watching Churchil Live), I was very excited. For once, I thought this is the man. He has the balls. He is going to break down the rot in pieces, procedurally and systematically on how education in Kenya has been compromised.

I also read an article he co-authored on Daily Nation that nearly half of all graduates from colleges in Kenya are half baked. I was worried. Could I be among the half baked individuals who transcended from college to the ubiquitous job market of unemployment? Sooner someone will tell me that my degree is fake considering the grapevine I have heard from those in other colleges about my Alma matter.

When you have worked for a big organization of international repute like BBC and high standard organizations like NTV and KTN (many dream of working in these organizations), you ought to be very pragmatic. I mean rely less on fallacies, base your argument on statistics and facts and never stage manage an issue of national importance for the sake of bringing down an institution accredited by the GOK for more than 15 years. Or Dennis never did Logic?

Most of the clip footage that discredits Nairobi Aviation was captured when Dennis Okari was working for FEBA RADIO- Baraka FM as the Head of Production/Breakfast Drive Presenter. This is in his Linked In Profile. The footage was captured in 2008, March. Yes, Almost 7 years ago when I was on the verge of exiting high school.

Did CS  Kaimenyi, our former DVC, even realize that the footage he was watching were recorded when he had no idea he would ever be a CS since he was a scholar and such posts were then reserved for politicians? How easy it is to trick a person with an established brand.

Credibility is what #CertificatesOf Doom lacks

When you are a person who loves credibility, you acknowledge the source of your video. I found the photo above on Okari’s twitter handle. Anyone who has gone to college knows the essence of quoting the actual source of data. It reduces on plagiarism and gives someone the deserved credibility he or she is preaching or professes to uphold.

I wish Okari could have been categorical on the fact that the video exhibits he was using on his expose were not captured in 2015. He goes to the extent of using MPESA statements exhibits of 2015. Hassan the alleged former student was given certificates was issued the same in 2008. The period he was supposed to have cleared college was 2013. He sends money via MPESA in 2015. Why wait for 7 years to send money? If this is not half baked journalism, am afraid I need to go back to school.

When you are a journo, there are some ethical standards that you must adhere to. The aims of journalism include: to disseminate information; to interpret events; to act as watchdog on power; to advocate for reform or to advocate for certain causes; to educate and empower the public as citizens and to guide public opinion; and to serve (or propagandize for) the party or the state. This is according to Steven Ward.

Allow me to indulge and give you a break down on why the #CertificatesOfDoom expose was biased and disastrously never adhered to the tenets of social responsibility. It tells of students who have been aggrieved and want justice because the institution is taking them for a ride. Realistically, I never saw any student from Nairobi Aviation being interviewed in the whole 29.16 minute clip. They only used impostors (sorry for poor diction there) who were probably paid to do the clip.

First scenario

Footage of Silvia registering Patrick in 2008

Patrick being interviewed by Dennis Okari

Receipt of money Patrick Paid

Receipt of money Patrick paid

Patrick, the first undercover student goes to NAC to find out whether he can do Electrical Engineering since he is a class 6 drop out. He is told he can only do City and Guilds exams the footage clearly indicating the video was done on 23.03.2008. Therefore he pays a fee of Sh.7200 and is given receipts dated 2015 (if the chronology of events are right in the clip). The next day he starts his class. He says cannot read and write while being interviewed by Okari in 2015. He speaks fluently in comprehensible English. Question that begs is, "What is wrong with doing City and Guilds exams when there are no standard entry requirements as long as a student can read, comprehend the questions and answer the them correctly?" Are those exams normally marked in Kenya? I don't know.

Second scenario.

Hassan talking to Okari

Pampula handing over certificate and transcript to Okari

Certificate Hassan was issued indicating he was a student in Nairobi Aviation

M-PESA statements of the Sh.3000 Hassan sent to Pmpula, the IT Lecturer

Hassan, the second undercover student is a fake. He is filmed on 25.03.2008. Two days after Ptrick starts school. Hassan narrates to Okari how seven years ago he managed to procure a certificate in Aeronautical Engineering from one Ignatius Parampula, an IT lecturer. He sends him money via MPESA in 2015 to be given certificates without ever attending class. The total amount he sent as per the Mpesa statements was Sh.4027. Pampula only wanted Sh.3000 to give him the certificate and transcripts.

Are these not discrepancies?

Okari you are the best investigative journo in Kenya. Igwe. A hot TT for more than four days on Twitter. You watch clips from 2008 and again interview students in 2015 and allege you are an investigative journalist? Let me not presume you were laughing after each episode of narration like actors do each time they mess on those behind the videos. But you were serious. Gravely serious. Did you coach those two students or some else did it?

In Kanyari’s expose, I saw the faces of those who were being interviewed. They were even able to confess later they were being coached by Kanyari to Moha. In as much as the footage was discredited by some people, there was real investigative journalism there. It really gave me a reason to smile at how gullible we the youth are when given alms or promised the same.

The Nairobi Aviation College expose was devoid of credibility. When I saw it on Sunday, I tweeted that it was biased and full of vengeance. I still stand by my word.

NAC has become a butt of jokes. I feel for former students. They are now at a limbo sitting on the fence. They joined the institution because it was certified as one that was credible by the Ministry of Education.

Maybe, some mandarins wanted to fix Dennis, a journo star has been on the rise. Why? You may ask. He exits KISS TV, immediately finds a job with NTV, he then leaves it for BBC, eight months later, he returns to NTV and gets promoted while some people are still stuck in a rut. Okari can you clarify why you left greener pastures in Queens Land where many dream to set foot in, Please?

As innocent as he was, Dennis defends his expose because he is an investigative journalist. He goes to #PressPass and because he is as sure as a cock, he defends the lies. Dennis, own up that you lied to Kenyans. Own up that you hired people to discredit an institution some of my pals have attended. They feel really let down. They spent money which has gone down the drain.  “Will you apologize?” My rhetorical question to you.

I am not a hater. I love justice for all. I never like mediocrity though. I love guys who are partial. There is nothing to gain from being nonobjective. When you want to do your investigation, you know the procedure that should be followed, getting facts right.

There are some ground rules that apply to almost all disciplines irrespective of career. Ethics is a requisite. It has to do with being truthful and being morally right.

I may have had some interest in Nairobi Aviation, but the way you reduced a formidable brand with many graduates into smithereens. I doubt if I will hold it in high regard again. It can never be trust in the meantime.

Some of the courses on offer in NAC only require someone to be able to read and write. Like in the case of the class six drop out who lies that he never knows how to read and write while he speaks fluently in English.

Well some may argue that it was good the expose was highlighted 7 years later. I say no. We needed to have the lives of Kenyans salvaged before they go to the dogs and they start crying foul, like yesterday.

I am of the opinion that you kept the expose for way too long. Moha and Namu once worked in NTV but they never highlighted the rot. Why Dennis when he is fresh from London? The place Biko was denied a Visa to set foot in.

Every Institution has its weakness. Even my alma mater had some. From my experience, the only individuals allowed to release certificates to students are those who work at the examination centre. I don’t know if NAC has one and effects transparency regarding the same. Lecturers are never allowed to give students results.

You should have brought Pampula and Silvia to also give their sides of the story.
 
My argument is based on the fact you only spent less than one month to do a comprehensive coverage of an expose that has also disillusioned many parents. Dude you are very good I tell you. I am not well versed with the research principles most journalists apply, but if it involves lies, witch-hunt and settling scores as some bloggers alleged, some people may never get justice.

PS: I  saw the picture of Sylvia backdated to 2008 and thought it was an hoax or it had been Photoshopped by those from the blogosphere. I had to revisit the video to confirm the truth. I wish someone would have employed me on permanent basis so that I could not have realized this. I wish I could see the faces of the lecturers and students, the guy who is in charge of quality control department because his coat looks like that of a lady and he  wears something on his head. Maybe, I will believe in the certificate of doom.

SITUONANE.