CONFLICT

CONFLICT

The air in campus these past two weeks has been ripe with strife!

First came the shifting of power from one student council to the other. Campaigns ran riot! Pun intended. Youth who were drunk, rowdy and unruly took the streets running with banners, placards and waving their T-shirts while baring their chests in the name of proclaiming their favorite politician Tosha! In a display of reckless abandon for their safety or the welfare of the others, they hung from trucks at precarious angles, paralyzed traffic as their convoys made their numerous rounds through town and for the unwary business person, a few commodities were lost as well.

Universities are in essence a reserve of the intellectual crème` de la crème` of society. Granted some rowdiness maybe be permitted now that most of the folk in universities are young, free and wild, there should however be a limit. What’s to distinguish intellectuals from laymen if we are to behave in the same manner if not worse? How do you call yourself different from that villager who is bribed with a few shots off illicit liquor to go blaring the name of some hapless politician when you are doing the same thing drunk as blazes running through town shouting somebody’s name?

Shouldn’t campus politics be different? We should be seeing a display of brains muscling out each other in debates and progressive talks. Campus politics should be an arena of combating ideas and not a ruse for people to get drunk and in various debaucheries all in the name of campaigning.

So people voted on a Friday that was characterized by brightly dressed folks who stood outside the voting area chattering away in anticipation. The politicking never died away, on the same day, the campaigners stood sentinel outside issuing leaflets and trying to sway a few hearts. Oh wait, isn’t that an election malpractice? No one really gave a hoot! As early as 9 in the morning, guys were getting drunk at the student center. This could escalate to an afternoon of guys fighting over poker games and others breaking the bottles they had drunk in the morning in a burst of drunken masochism to the chagrin of their allies who cheered boisterously!

That very evening, it drizzled after months of dry weather. The announcing of elections also took a different turn. Power as we know it never changes hands easily. Before the committee could finish counting the votes to declare the winner, rumors started flying abound that the results had been predetermined. In no time at all the air became charged, electric! Poised for a riot! And that is what went down. The mob that had been standing outside the MCU turned murderous. They slung stones at the building with missile like efficiency turning all the windows into patterns of broken glass. It’s still a mystery where tires came from but tires were burnt before police were called in to stub the riot.  The results are yet to be out.

After that little escapade, calm descended once again. Exams took the concentration of everyone. Some struggled frantically to finish clearing their fees and registering as others realized that they hadn’t read a thing and scrambled to photocopy notes from their friends.  It’s as if the elections never took place. Only the charred remains of tires and the broken windows were evidence that a struggle had taken place. Then the Lecturers announced their strike!

The vice chancellor requested a meeting with the students! Half the university turned up! Before a crowd that was bound to turn mutinous any moment, He stood up and weaved a speech that not only calmed the students and gave them hope, but one that hoodwinked them into his playing arena. He displayed a masterly of crowd manipulation telling the crowd what they wanted to hear and then some more. Coming in as a new leader taking over a regime that was crumbling and sinking, the MMUST don seemed like the revolutionary in that speech! His first speech before students ready for riot proved a big success.

All the time, he was speaking, I couldn’t help but look on in trepidation while thinking, “Any wrong words now and this entire fraternity will descend on you!” He stood on a chair the whole time owing to his short frame with a multitude of faces pressing in from every angle flanked only by two of his vice chancellors. With that speech, the crowd settled down. One week added on to do more revision and finish clearing, Master stroke!

This morning as I was walking to school, a friend asked me this question, “aren’t we supposed to go home for a break now that we are doing nothing?” she asked.  ‘It’s written in the school rules that if we stay four academic days without any activity going on, the management is supposed to allow us go on break.” She added.  I do not know if such a rule exists, maybe it’s time I revisited my school rules, but then again, what’s the point? I’m here for only a few days more.

 @mossettiCon