BY KEN ANDREW
kenakikenyi@gmail.com
Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of Instagram (daystar_uni).
The Daystar University Students Association DUSA sent an email on Tuesday 1st September 2021 which stated the appointment of Monica Gitau as the acting president. The email stated that the council had unanimously agreed to appoint current vice President Monicah Gitau as the acting president because of the unavailability of President Marco Laboso due to personal reasons.
When asked for a comment the Deputy President, Monica Gitau had none. The president however seems to be absent in all these with no comments heard from him.
The email also stated that the council agreed to have the International students’ representative Duc Florian as the acting treasurer again, due to the unavailability of Treasurer Wambui Njoroge.
When questioned by Involvement Newspaper, the DUSA Secretary-General, Caleb Paul alias Msando, seemed agitated by the absence of the President and the Treasurer especially at a time he felt they were needed the most.
“In as much as we demand for services, we cannot demand for services that we do not offer ourselves that is why this was a wakeup call for the president and the treasurer” he stated. “These are people we have talked to several times and they know what they need to do according to the constitution.”
The Secretary-General also aired his disappointment at the absence of the president and treasurer during the entire enrolling and orientation of freshmen for the new semester. He felt that during the implementation of the school’s new Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software system – a change which brought a lot of issues for student registration- the whole council was needed around both campuses to give answers and assist the students.
His actions however seem to have disquieted Congress. The DUSA Congress speaker, Noel Shimba, stated that the Secretary-General is not in a position like his to declare positions empty and again, he is not the congress that appoints people into the vacant offices.
“We are having this the Secretary-General performing his role of communicating, but the content of his communication is what I would render null and void because ideally he is not supposed to act on behalf of the congress,” stated Shimba, “he is supposed to act on behalf of the council and his message should receive approval from the chair of the DUSA Council and this is the president Marco Laboso himself.”
He said that there is a conflict and confusion caused by the communication sent by Mr. Caleb Paul.
The student association has slated a meeting for Friday 10th of September to address the current state of conflict and confusion in the body. Speaker Noel Shimba termed it as ‘having a difficult conversation but it has to happen to clear the air and ease the tensions.