Barriers to effective representation for student organizations in Kenya

On 11 August 2009 I met with student leaders from a variety of Kenyan universities to get a better idea of the way university students in Kenya are organized. While all student organizations in Kenya are represented by the Kenya National Students Union (KNSU), I was also interested in the way in which students organize themselves on their own campuses.

I was told during the meetings that the KNSU, which was once a formidable force in Kenyan student politics, has recently been hijacked by political elites and is now merely a shell of its former self. This means that campus-based organizations such as the Student Organization of the University of Nairobi (SONU), the Kenyatta University Student Organization (KUSO) and the Moi University Students Organization (MUSO) are active at the university level but are not very influential in matters that concern national policy.

The current lack of an effective representative voice at a national level contrasts strongly with the engagement of Kenyan students in the past, for example their role in the attempted coup of 1982 which sought to remove the oppressive Moi government. It’s perhaps ironic to consider that many student leaders from that time, who fought for a multi-party system of government in Kenya, are now themselves members of parliament.

Despite this apparent lack of political engagement, other organizations in universities have been formed to ensure that there is a link between students and the professions in which they hope one day to work. Some of these organizations include the Kenya Law Students Society (KLSS), the Economic Students Association (ECOSA) and also the Engineering Students Association (ESA).

One other problem for student politics in Kenya has been the existence of regional organizations within universities that have been blamed for encouraging tribalism within the national student movement. Their abolition remains a highly-sensitive political issue, given that most of these organizations are used by the political elites to advance their agendas, especially during election campaigns.

Indeed, this arguably reflects the political reality that all Kenyan student organizations depend for their funding upon the major political party elites. Therefore, a politician will fund student candidates running for office and in return, the elected student leaders will mobilize their colleagues to campaign for that politician. In this sense, the national student movement remains under the control of the major political parties, with consequences for the representation of student concerns in national affairs.