Why battle over degree requirement in leadership is worth fighting

University degree storm: Senator Johnson Sakaja. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

In the wake of rejections by IEBC of some presidential and gubernatorial candidates on the basis of lack of or doubtful university qualifications, a number of Kenyans have formed the opinion that university education is overrated.

Their argument is that leadership is inborn and has nothing to do with formal education, especially of the certificated type. 

Many are quick to point at examples of Kenya’s second President Daniel arap Moi and many other high-flying Kenyan and global leaders who were non-graduates.

In Kenya’s recent corporate history the ready example is that of former Safaricom chief executive, the late Bob Collymore, a school dropout who led the giant telco to unprecedented success in the local corporate scene.

The point that a number of these naysayers don't appear to appreciate in this so-called degree debate, however, is whether they believe the leaders could have done much better had they gone through university education. 

Let me first explain that there's a difference between holding a university degree or degrees, and actually having a university education. For instance, the advent of Module Two programs in Kenyan public universities did open the gates for many Kenyans to hold university degrees. 

As to whether they have a university education is a matter that calls for a sober debate. 

Many people mistakenly believe that once they graduate with a university degree, they automatically have a university education. That's why this debate is still raging, in the first place. Anybody can hold a university degree, but not everybody with a university degree has a university education.

Whereas a university degree is a certificate that confirms completion of a program of study at a university, university education, on the other hand, is universal knowledge acquired by pursuing that program. 

So, a university degree is supposed to be evidence of completion of an agreed program of study at a university or its equivalent.  

University education, as the name suggests, is referred to as universal knowledge because it's supposed to be the same across the globe. If a person holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Nairobi, or The Technical University of Kenya, for instance, it's expected that the person should feel at home among BSc Mathematics degree holders from Harvard University, or any other institution elsewhere in the world, for that matter. 

Knowledge is a continuum. Knowledge is compartmentalised only to make instruction possible and to create disciplines. Otherwise, all disciplines converge at the level of philosophy. That's why all disciplines have a PhD at the apex. 

Most Kenyans are yet to understand the role of scholarship in the life of a nation. [iStockphoto]

 

At PhD, scholars are concerned with knowledge creation. It doesn't matter the discipline that contributes to the creation of that knowledge. That's why epidemiologists, virologists, and other researchers have been engaged in the search for a cure for coronavirus. It doesn't matter that the researchers are from Zoology, Medicine or other disciplines. 

Similarly, Mathematicians, Geodecists, Physicists, Astrologists, Cosmologists and Geologists come together to investigate natural phenomena. Religious knowledge is the flip side of physics. This is because, it's generally agreed that that which is beyond the physical realm can only be dealt with from the standpoint of philosophy (metaphysics), spirituality or religiosity. This goes to demonstrate that there's no knowledge that's inferior or superior to another. 

Whenever would-be users of university education ask for a degree from a recognized university, what they mean is that the qualification must have been obtained from an institution that belongs to the global community of universal education givers. 

The confusion between university education and a university degree arises in at least three circumstances. 

First, when there's poor pedagogy. That's to say, weak teaching, due either to unqualified tutors or methodological challenges. Second, is the lack of adequate facilities and teaching aids, and poor research culture arising from a lack of adequate investment in education. 

Most of these challenges are associated with the developing world where governments and other stakeholders do not commit substantial budgetary allocations to the education sector. 

Third, when learners don't put in enough effort to cover the curriculum, and only settle for content that's barely adequate to enable them to meet the threshold for passing their examinations. 

In Kenya, the Module 2 fiasco has led to this phenomenon where universities produce pressure-baked graduates whose basic preoccupation during their time at school is merely to obtain the degree certificate for utilitarian reasons (promotion, social prestige etc); not knowledge for its intrinsic value. 

In any case, most of the part-time, working students do not have enough time to dedicate to their studies. 

A number of them, especially those pursuing undergraduate studies, have no previous exposure to the culture of rigorous reading that defines university education. So, they think that by merely graduating with a degree, they automatically become equals with the more academically oriented full-time students. 

Of course, there are part-time students who are very serious in their studies and end up being very good scholars, but there aren't many at all. 

The mushrooming of universities in Kenya over the past two decades or so, each offering hundreds of degree programs, some of which have not been properly conceived, has given the impression that Kenya has a lot of very highly qualified human resources. 

The reality, however, is that many of these graduates seriously require re-tooling and re-skilling so that they can become useful in the development endeavours of our country, and be able to consciously and usefully participate in debates that shape geopolitical thinking.

During Jomo Kenyatta's days, professors were among the most highly paid professionals in the country. [File, Standard]

The constitutional requirement of a university degree for some positions of leadership is premised on the assumption that everybody who holds a university degree actually has university-level knowledge. 

The University level knowledge enables the holder to think through situations clearly, and weigh options for improving human welfare. The actual details can then be handled by professionals in their respective fields. 

The resentment demonstrated by a section of Kenyans against the degree requirement for certain political offices is purely out of the belief that degree "ni karatasi tuu" (degree is a mere piece of paper). One shouldn't blame Kenyans; that's what they have been made to believe.

The apparent shift from the pro-education policies of the first independence government of Mzee Kenyatta is responsible for the callous attitude towards education and reading. 

Our first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, fully understood the critical role education played in societal transformation. 

Before he took over the reins of leadership from the British, Mzee had spent about 2 decades abroad, living and studying in Germany, Russia and UK. While out there, he witnessed, from very close quarters, how education and the educated were handled. 

No wonder that despite his challenges with the scholars, Kenya’s education thrived under Mzee Kenyatta, and graduates competed favourably with those from leading universities the world over. 

There were many scholars on exchange programs who worked and conducted high-impact research at the University of Nairobi. 

Some of them, including American Economist, Prof Joseph Stiglitz, went ahead to bag the Nobel prize. During the Kenyatta days, professors were among the most highly paid professionals in the country, only coming slightly below Cabinet Ministers, Vice President and the President.

President Moi came in with a different construction. While he heavily supported and invested in primary and secondary school education, his relationship with university dons became immediately frosty.

His government saw professors as people to be cut down to size and tamed for perennially opposing his positions on nearly every issue.

The situation wasn't made any better when university students and professors openly supported the 1982 coup de tat against the Kanu regime.  President Moi took advantage of the open defiance to his rule to come down heavily on scholars. 

Army trucks outside the KICC during the 1982 coup attempt. [File, Standard]

Within a few years of his leadership, many top professors had fled to exile, and were detained or jailed. A few were recruited to become his supporters while the majority were impoverished through the stagnation of pay and suffocation of research funds.

Meanwhile, politicians were funded to vilify scholars at the slightest opportunity as Moi, in his capacity as the Chancellor of all public universities, replaced them in top government advisory positions with the less educated court jesters. 

Security agencies were mobilized to cut scholars to size as the country’s academic and research credentials went into a free fall. 

It has been a herculean task trying to bring back sanity in this sector, and reinstate education to its rightful position. It was under this regime that Kenyans were made to believe that education and educated people were their worst enemies; that the educated were merely speaking "big English" without supporting it with 'development.' 

What remains clear is that the regime bastardized education, and led the country to become suspicious of the educated. 

To date, most Kenyans are yet to understand the role of scholarship in the life of a nation. Kenyans want money now. The rest, they believe, will sort out itself. 

So, when Kenyans see so much hullabaloo about university degrees, they wonder why such a "useless paper" can be at the heart of an electoral process. I see a situation coming soon after this general election in which both houses of Parliament, sooner rather than later, will seek to amend the relevant constitutional provisions to remove this inconvenience called "University Degree."

-Dr Ongore is a lecturer at Technical University of Kenya and a management consultant