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Riots in Kenyan Public Universities: Causes and Resolution Strategies

Moriasi Jackline,** Jumba Patrick,* Owuor George* and Okanga Patrick*

Abstract

Disturbances in public universities usually take place in the form of public demonstrations using posters that express grievances. In Kenya, this has often ended up in violence and destruction of property. This study therefore focused on establishing causes of students’ riots, the frequency of the riots, how a university manages riots, and the effects of communication channels existing between students and management. Interviews focused on individual and groups of students and staff. Results showed that most students’ unrest are caused by academic and administrative factors such as changes in examination regulations, insensitivity of management in relation to students’ welfare, communication breakdown, lack of recent academic materials and poor medical services. Besides, external influence such as changes in political environment, also plays a role. This study thus recommends that the universities should establish a two-way communication between students and management. In addition, services such as accommodation, catering, medical and academic should be given prompt attention all the times. Guidance and counseling among the students should be done regularly to educate students on the approaches to militating against problems, and personal stress. Last but not least, the university’s curriculum should be made flexible to accommodate changing economic and social conditions.

1. General Background

Disturbances in the form of demonstrations are a common feature of universities all over the world. When university students share strong views about a problem, they gather, and with posters expressing their feelings, march in the planned direction. Often the demonstration ends after an authority related to the problem of the demonstrations has addressed the students. Universities all over the world, and especially in Kenya, have experienced situations where planned demonstrations turn violent. This often happens when the police, for various reasons, forcefully stops the demonstrations. The angered students respond to the interruption mainly by throwing stones at the police, or sometimes, at any nearby target. Public universities in Kenya have experienced student demonstrations and riots. The causes of students’ unrest in Kenya are largely external issues, and in a few instances, internal factors such as poor quality and type of food.

Since independence, the Kenya Government has set up a number of task forces to review the education system and tackle the emerging issues with a view to improving the quality of education and delivery of education services. Recommendations arising from the reports of these committees and task forces have guided educational policy formulation and enhancement of growth and development of education in the country. This in itself is a demonstration of the Government’s commitment to the provision of quality and effective educational service.

With increased enrolments and the decline in economic performance, the Government is now faced with issues of sustaining equity and relevance in education. This has been addressed in the various education reviews, whose main objectives were to make the education system more efficient, effective and responsive to the changing needs of the Kenyan society.

The 1988 report of the Presidential Work of Party on Education and Manpower Training for the Next Decade and Beyond (Kamunge Report) states that the philosophy of education and training must always be in consonance with and positively contribute to national development. This was further echoed by the Commission of Inquiry into the Education System in Kenya in 1999 (Koech 1999) which states that,

the philosophy of education must be based on the need to fashion the individual to grow and develop into a sound and effective citizen with the mental capacity to appreciate the cultural heritage of his/her nation, as well as being able to make meaningful contribution towards further development and the socio-economic stability of the nation.

In spite of the tremendous growth the Government has recorded in its effort to provide quality education to all Kenyans and to meet the needs of the society, the Government has been faced with a myriad of challenges especially from public universities where not much research has been done.

The report of the Vice-chancellors’ committee on causes of disturbances/riots in public universities (June 2000) attributes causes of riots to issues related to politics, students’ welfare, academic, and university management. The report says that many of the student leaders have been suffering from “adolescence per excellence”, consequently influencing and misleading others who easily ape their behaviour for conformit’s sake. The absence of a bridge between students and an administration that normally takes a predetermined, rigid and unshakable stand results in frustration and disappointment to students. Some students who resort to violence at times of frustrations are mentally, spiritually, morally and socially maladjusted.

While the Committees’ report could bear some truth for the causes of university disturbances, it is not always the politics, student welfare and management that are to blame for the riots. There must be other dynamics -both internal and external- which contribute to the public universities’ crisis or unrest and which this study intends to establish.

An investigation of the causes of students’ unrest in the University of Nairobi, (Rimberia 1985) attributes causes of riots to inability to solve students’ grievance. Rimberia maintains that despite the fact that the administrators devote considerable time in administrative tasks, it is either that their approach is bad, or they give incorrect answers to the students, or respond at the wrong time. While Rimberia’s assertion could bear some truth, it is not always the University administrators that are to be blamed for the riots as this study intends to establish.

A study on causes of students’ unrests at Kenyatta University (Mambo 2000) attributes causes of unrest to political, economic, spiritual, internal, and administrative factors and sabotage. Mambo argues, students’ unrest in universities were influenced by the incitement of politicians. Some students are unable to pay fees due to financial constraints and when they are threatened with non-registration they organize to disrupt the university’s peace.

Again, while Mambo’s factors bear truth, it is not always the political, economic, spiritual and internal factors that bring about the riots. Still, public universities’ unrest have increased, therefore there must be other dynamics or factors that contribute to students’ riots.

Cultural conflicts affect and, to some extent, cause public university riots. For instance, in communities where females have a low social status compared to males, boys have little or no respect for female lecturers. In such communities it is common to find conflict between boys and girls, and girls tend to be shy and inhibited, and unwilling to openly discuss the problems. This leads to built-up frustrations, which often result in indiscipline.

Varied types of drugs and narcotic substances are readily available in the University locality. Such drugs and substances, which include bhang, tobacco, chang’aa and glue are sold to students. The students who chew the substance feel “high”; and its effects are instantaneous and much greater than the effects of bhang. The students who are involved in these become undisciplined and hence cause unrest in the University.

The role of the mass media, both print and electronic, is significant in educating, entertaining and informing the public. In their effort to inform and educate the public, a number of media houses give prominence to negative issues. The pornographic literature that litters the streets has become a threat to the students’ morals. The excessive violence seen on television screens inculcated a culture of violence in the students. The media often highlights negative issues and often portrays wrong doers as heroes. There is an excessive advertisement of cheap alcohol on television at prime time, which encourages consumption of alcohol by the youth especially when it appeals to the youth’s ego and sense of heroism.

The introduction of the 8.4.4 system of education in 1985 was expected to address the shift from a white-collar to blue-collar jobs. The curriculum content of the new system of education laid emphasis on skills in preparation for the world of work. The graduates of the system would be job creators rather than job seekers. However, the high cost of its implementation has hindered the successful attainment of the noble objective of the new system of education. Parents heavily invest in education with the aim of reaping returns. They expect their educated children to emancipate them from inherent poverty and to move them to better skate and higher status. Lack of employment has led to the creation of an attitude that education and University schooling is for passing time while awaiting to go back to poverty once again, which leads to a bleak future. This attitude has led to many causes of unrest in public universities. Because since students have lost hope, they would want to strike, in order to be sent back home or just spend long time or even many years in the university.

The frequency of riots in public universities has increased tremendously in the last five years to such an extent that students cannot tell when their studies would end because of frequent closures resulting from the riots. Rioting students have also become more violent. While in the past rioting students destroyed university property, the most recent trend is that students stone private cars outside Campus and loot kiosks. In some instances, students and innocent members of the public have either been maimed or lost lives during the riots. This aspect was also one of the prompting factors for the present study.

However, the handling of students’ riots in Kenyan public universities has been based on various strategies, like using the police and closing down the university for a certain period of time. There has been no empirical research done to establish some strategies used to manage university crisis. This study therefore focused on establishing causes of students’ riots, the frequency of students’ riots, how a university manages riots, and the effects of communication channels existing between students and management. It employed individual and group interview approaches with students, administrators, and teaching staff in identifying the factors that lead to riots in the universities. Egerton University was used as a case study for this research, covering all its campuses, namely Njoro, Laikipia and Kisii.

Methods

Study Design

This study used the survey method of research. The target population included administrators, disciplinary committee members, student leaders and some students at the public universities.

Sampling and Sample Size

The study sample in this study included about 10 % of the administrators, all members in the disciplinary committee, all the student leaders and about 5 % of the students’ population.

Egerton University was purposively sampled from the six public universities in Kenya as a case study. The reason for this sampling was the similarities in the students’ riots and how they are managed in all the public universities. Egerton University has 3,000 students in Njoro, 1,000 in Kisii campus and 1,200 in Laikipia campus. The total number of administrators was about five per cent. The entire student leaders and the disciplinary committee members in the three campuses were all included in this study.

Findings

Characterization of respondents revealed that male students are the majority (77%) against females (23%), reflecting more boys than female attending higher level of schooling. Over a third (31%) of the students belonged to the department of Economics/Business, followed by 23% in the Arts, 22% in Education and 2% in Engineering. This distribution may be explained partly by the number of students’ population in the University.

Table 1 shows a large number of the respondents (92.3%) experience students’ unrest during their stay at the university. Out of the total 78 respondents only 7.6% indicated having never experienced unrest, at the university. Further analysis shows that out of those who experienced unrest, (91.6%) were males and (94.5%) were females. About (5.5%) females and (8.3%) males had never experienced unrest.

Table 1: Experience of Unrest/ riots by Male and Female Students (78)

Responses	Male students (%)	Female students (%)	Total
No	8.3	5.5	7.6
Yes	91.6	94.5	92.3
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0

Grievances Leading to Unrest/ Riots