By Evelyne Syombua
The Daystar University Students Association Congress held its first sitting at the Main Campus, Athi River, on 26 May 2022, three months after they were elected. Their first sitting comes three months earlier than the 2021/2022 Congress’s first sitting, which was held on July 28, 2021.
The Associate Dean, Madam Susan Mbotto, DUSA President Walter Nalwa, Secretary-General Desmond Wyne, the Daystar Christian Fellowship (DCF) James Mburu, and Congress members were present for the sitting.
The DUSA President Walter Nalwa urged the Congress to work hand in hand with the DUSA Council to serve the students, “To serve students effectively, we need to work together. Listen to understand, and communication should be effective between the two arms. “
The main agendas of the sitting were the introduction of the Congress Members to one another, calling the house to order, coming up with a calendar of events for the Congress to aid in the budget proposal, which was captured in the first session, and consultations on the DUSA Congress Budget which will cover the DUSA Constitution Review Process which was discussed in the second session.
When addressing the house, the DUSA Congress Speaker, Evans Owino, urged the Congress members to start serving as they were elected to do so, “Politics are over, and now it is time to work. As we come up with our calendar of events, as congress members, you should also come up with a calendar of events for your respective schools. ”
“Most offices in the school administration requested a new document of the DUSA Constitution to provide answers to the loopholes in the current DUSA Constitution. This is why we need a Constitution Review. We want a constitution that is student-centered, “said Evans.
He went on to add that this will help outline how to go about key electoral issues, especially after what happened between the just concluded elections last semester.
“We need to understand the procedure, have the committee in place, and give them a timeline to enable us to meet our goal, “commented Congress Woman School of Arts and Social Sciences Sharon Odoyo.
The Constitution Review Process will include public participation where students will be involved, and their opinions will be considered in the review. This will then be followed by popular voting.
“Most of us are not in touch with the current constitution, and we need to go through it and understand it. This will help us know why we need the constitution review. With this, we will be able to help students easily and make our leadership easy. Understanding the process is crucial, “said the Deputy Speaker Flavian Muthaura representing the School of Applied Human Sciences.
The speaker read the procedure of a constitution review to the Congress Members as stipulated in the current DUSA Constitution.
Presented with a dilemma of when to set the Congress DUSA budget since, as stipulated in the current DUSA Constitution, a special sitting communication is to be communicated seven days before the sitting and the needed to come up with a budget to forward to the DUSA treasurer before 1 June 2022, opened the house for suggestions from the Congress Members.
“Let us read the constitution first and understand it before we come up with the budget since we need the committee to allocate funds to facilitate the review. This will help us know how many people we need in the committee,” said Congress Man School of Science Eugene Okanda.
After a discussion, the congress members agreed to have an online meeting on 28 May to discuss further the budget and constitution review for them to meet the 1 June 2022 deadline for submitting the Congress Budget.
Secretary-General Desmond urged the Congress Members to work in unity with the DUSA Council and to ensure respect is maintained among them.
The speaker adjourned the sitting with the next one yet to be scheduled.