During the 25th Graduation ceremony of Mount Kenya University (MKU), founder Prof. Simon Gicharu announced an impressive KSh82 million fee waiver for all past students who had been unable to collect their academic certificates due to outstanding arrears.
This announcement brought immense relief to many former students, including 33-year-old Dominic Lokoel Eipa. Lokoel, who studied at MKU’s Lodwar Campus in Turkana County, graduated in August 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, specializing in Banking and Finance.
“All through my academic journey, I had difficulty paying for my school fees,” Lokoel shared.
Born and raised in Turkana County, approximately 675 kilometers from Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, Lokoel’s background is one of resilience. Turkana is Kenya’s second-largest county by land area, characterized by sparse population, frequent droughts, famine, and occasional conflicts between local and neighboring communities. American journalist Blaine Harden once described Turkana in his book Dispatches from a Fragile Continent as “one of the more remote and hallucinatory corners on earth,” where the people’s “hardscrabble lives and vulnerability to famine typify the existence of the 25 million or so pastoral people who wander the Sahel, an arid belt of grassland that stretches across Africa south of the Sahara.”
“When drought hits,” Harden wrote, “skeletons of fallen cattle bleach in the sun, flies crawl in the dull wide eyes of emaciated children, and the breasts of nursing mothers dry up like prunes.”
This harsh environment is where Lokoel grew up. As the eldest of seven siblings, he bore the responsibility of setting an example in education, a value his father, a local chief, deeply understood. His father retired from his administrative role in 1997, before Lokoel had started school. “It was a struggle. It has been a struggle, since,” Lokoel recalled. With the help of bursaries from the National Government Constituency Development Fund, Lokoel managed to complete his secondary education in 2009.
Determined to be the first in his family to attend university, Lokoel initially inquired about business courses at two universities but found the tuition fees prohibitively high. Around this time, MKU opened a campus in Lodwar, becoming one of the pioneering institutions in the remote county. “The fee was reasonable. The lecturers and administrative staff were friendly. I immediately enrolled, starting with a Diploma in Business Management in 2012. I graduated in 2014 and began my degree the following year.”
Lokoel’s father supported his education by selling goats, a common economic activity among nomadic pastoralists. However, with drought affecting livestock returns, Lokoel’s fee arrears began to accumulate at MKU. Despite this, he maintained a good relationship with his lecturers, who allowed him to sit for his exams even with significant outstanding fees. Lokoel eventually graduated in 2019, but due to arrears exceeding KSh200,000, he was unable to collect his degree certificate, which prevented him from seeking better job opportunities.
“So, I make do with casual jobs at local non-governmental organizations with the hope that one day, I will save enough money to clear my arrears and support my siblings,” Lokoel said.
On Friday, August 2, 2024, Lokoel’s burden was lifted when Prof. Gicharu announced a blanket waiver for all past graduates unable to collect their certificates due to fee balances.
“Today, I direct the University to release the certificates unconditionally to all those affected by fee balances,” said Prof. Gicharu, who also serves as the patron of the MKU Foundation. He added that any payments made by beneficiaries after securing jobs, if they chose to repay, would go toward supporting the Chancellor’s Scholarship.
Prof. Gicharu noted that the total amount waived for all students was KSh82 million.
“I am very grateful for this announcement of hope that will enable me to pick up my certificates and seek job opportunities to support myself, my family, and my country,” Lokoel expressed. “I have a strong passion for education, and I firmly believe that education will help transform societies like Turkana.”
