Strict discipline led to academic excellence

CONSTANCE LANG’AT, 40, is the commercial and finance manager at Kericho Water and Sewerage Company (Kewasco). She spoke to ANDERSON OJWANG’ on why she believes education is the only way to remain relevant in today’s society

Growing up, I would spend most of my time admiring my father, Edward Bett, playing with figures and

Constance Lang’at, the commercial and finance manager at Kericho Water and Sewerage Company. [Photos: TITUS MUNALA/ Standard]

counting cents to balance the books of accounts.

He would burn the midnight oil whenever he missed a cent to ensure all the coins were accounted for. All this fascinated me.

I grew up in Kericho town where my father worked with the Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA) as a clerk.

From him, I knew the career path I wanted to take. Today, I am swimming in what I acquired from my dad by nurture and the sky is the limit in my pursuit.

In terms of profession, I am the odd one out in my family because we are a family of scholars, with my other siblings venturing into sciences to become medical doctors and engineers. I deviated to accounting.

No regrets

Like my siblings, I had a childhood dream of studying medicine but despite passing in Maths and Sciences, somehow the Economics I had studied landed me into the university.

I have never regretted not becoming a medical doctor because I have found Accounting so enjoyable but challenging at the same time.

I grew up in a family where reading was given preference. The culture was so inbuilt and reinforced by our grandmother that, it was like an abomination for one not to be in the top three positions in class.

I remember one incident when my parents sold all the farm produce to pay our school fees. When my family’s resources had all been depleted and my father’s salary was overcommitted in our education, my mother would sell all the valuables she had to supplement the money for our education.

My father would not tolerate anyone who failed in Mathematics and English. It was a taboo in our home to fail in the two subjects. That would invite the wrath of the strict disciplinarian.

My father’s disciplinary measures were complemented by my grandmother who would come home to Kericho every school holiday from her rural farm in Kiptaltal to check on our school performance.

She would bring goodies for those who excelled in class and those who failed would accompany her back home to the farm where they would stay for the holiday. My elder sister was weak in Mathematics but had to work extra hard in the subject because of the fear of going to the farm to work. My grandmother never went to school but her first priority was education for her grandchildren and this is one of the reasons why all my brothers and sisters went to university and have acquired several degrees.

I am humbled by the role she played, being assertive yet a good motivator. For this reason, today we have engineers, psychologists, doctors, an ambassador and lecturers in our family.

I am the only daughter who went through the Kenyan universities as my elder sisters got scholarships to study in universities abroad due to their exemplary performance in exams. In fact when I was born, my eldest sister Prof Ruth Rono, who is the Kenya’s High Commissioner to Hague, was in the US undertaking her degree and I only saw her when I was in standard three when she came back.

Schooling

She role modelled us to be academic achievers and set the pace that we competed to achieve.

My mother was not a disciplinarian but provided us with wise counselling and support. She was the bridge that we relied upon when things were hot.

I attended Cheptenye Primary School from 1978 and I am one of the pioneer 8-4-4 candidates of 1985. I then joined Kipsigis Girls High School in 1986 and in 1990 joined Kenyatta University for a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance.

I completed by Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in 2000 at Vision Institute in Nairobi and have undertaken various training courses in management, procurement and finance.

After my undergraduate degree, I spent three years looking for a job and worked with an audit firm Mbaya &Associates in 1999 where I stayed for a year.

I later joined the Kenya Cereals and Produce Board in 2001 as an accountant and worked for four years before I left to join Kewasco as an internal auditor when it was started in 2006.

Today, I am the Finance and Commercial manager of the company where I undertake the financial management. I have acted as the managing director (MD) for the company for four months after the immediate former MD changed jobs.

I have not stopped pursuing education because it is the only way to remain relevant and motivate my children to take the same path I took. I have just completed a post-graduate diploma in Corporate Governance.

I am involved in a women’s group that aims at uplifting the socio-economic activities of the members. Our objective is to raise money and empower one another. We have projects such as poultry, zero grazing and knitting. The group, Arwab Ken Women Group, has provided us with an alternative view of life.

Similarly, we have a church group in Kericho where we go to visit schools to mentor the students and especially candidates. We visit schools when the exams are near and talk to the students.