MMUST News Post Vol 3 /Issue 1

Masinde Muliro Memorial Lecture- 12th August, 2019

Editor’s PenDear MMUST Community,

In this edition, we interview Prof. LeonardWamocho; a Professor of Horticulture and thefounding Dean of the School of Agriculture,Veterinary Sciences and Technology (SAVET).

We also cover the 2019 CES-Kenya/Canada DayRun and its focus on giving back to the society.Read about other activities as well in and outof the University.

We wish you a productive new month ofAugust 2019!

Dorcas Sandra Awuor Wambugu Mary Wangari

Meshack Nyambane

Wilberforce Shiundu

Nashilluh Brendah Kabindio

Interview by Wangari Mary Wambugu and Nashilluh Brendah Kabindio

Q: Please tell us about yourself.

I was born on 25th April, 1949 at my maternal grandparents’ home and was namedSamita after my grandfather’s Uncle who had just passed on shortly before mybirth. Growing up, I looked after cattle and, because my father’s salary was verylittle, I engaged in a lot of manual work like picking pyrethrum, cultivating andpicking coffee as well as weeding maize to assist him.

I got married in 1978. I have one wife and we are blessed with two sons; one ofthem is a senior army officer in the USA, and two daughters, one daughter who isadopted.

Q: We are interested in knowing your academic journey up to where you are now.

I joined Standard One in 1955 at a school near my home and, in 1965, I sat for KCPE. Ibegan secondary education at Mother of Apostles Seminary in 1966; I remember wewere thirty one (31) students in Form One and by the end of four years, there wereonly eight (8) of us. After Form Four, I went to Egerton University as a Diplomastudent but since the course that I was interested in, that is Horticulture, was notbeing offered at the time, I was forced to do Agriculture in First Year. Luckily, inSecond Year, the Ministry of Agriculture gave Egerton University a mandate to traintechnicians in Horticulture and ten of us were separated to study it.

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I graduated in December, 1972 and in1979, I was among the five people thatwere selected to go study for a degreeprogramme at the University of Floridaon an USAID scholarship. We wereamong the first black students to studyin that University.

Thereafter, I went to ClemsonUniversity, South Carolina, for Masters,finished in 1983, came back to Kenyaand became a lecturer in 1984 atEgerton University. I later on registeredfor PhD in Horticulture at JKUAT. I didmy research work locally, then, for mylab and greenhouse, I went to Japanand in 1999, I graduated.

Q: Any administrative and/orprofessional positions you have held?

Yes. Just to mention but a few, I servedas the Dean of Students at the JomoKenyatta University of Agriculture andTechnology (JJKUAT), Deputy Directorat the African Institute for CapacityDevelopment (AICAD), Director ofAcademic programmes at MeruUniversity when it was still a constituentcollege of JKUAT, Assistant HorticulturalOfficer and Farm Manager in charge ofdevelopment at the NationalHorticulture Research Station (NHRS)and Head of Department at JKUAT.

Q: How did you join MMUST?

In 2007, I came for a Conference atMMUST and realized that the Universitydid not have Agriculture; it only hadSugar Technology, which was highlyspecialised. Therefore, this promptedme to come here and start Agriculture,

and it would be a School not a Faculty.At that time, MMUST had advertised fora professor on the website. I gladlyapplied and, in 2009, I joined theUniversity.

I worked hard to get SAVETprogrammes, put documents togetherand presented them to the Senate.Council approved the establishment ofthe School in 2011. I was then appointedthe founding Dean, School ofAgriculture, Veterinary Sciences andTechnology (SAVET). We started withvery few students; the School wasgraduating like two or three students.Right now we have over two thousand(2000) students and about thirteen (13)programmes.

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Q: As the founding Dean of the Schoolof Agriculture, Veterinary Sciences andTechnology (SAVET), what can you sayis the place of the School in makingMMUST a sought after University?

Actually, in my vision, SAVET was tobecome the flagship of MMUST.Because this institution is based in thesugar belt area, we tried to identifyprogrammes to strengthen sugartechnology.

SAVET was the first School to hold anoutreach activity in Lurambi. The activitywas about green vegetables, especiallythe indigenous ones, orange fleshedsweet potatoes and fish. We workedwith women groups who wereinterested in these areas and madethem experts.

The School has also been involved withthe County Government, under theMinistry of Agriculture, in various valuechain addition activities including fishand dairy farming. Through the MMUSTAgri-Expo, SAVET has impartedknowledge and technology to farmers.

Q: What advice would you give a youngKenyan citizen on taking Agriculture,and the fundamentals related to it, as apreferred course at MMUST?

I tell my students that Agriculture is verysustainable. You can start your ownprojects from the knowledge you get inclass and make money from them.

Q: The University has, for a while now,been running a farm at Milimani. Howcan SAVET maximise the use of thisfarm to make it a third stream incomefor the University?

One thing that I would like to say is that,

that farm is a teaching and research unitin the University. Making it an intensiveunit for income generation is possiblebut it should not be at the expense oflearning. In fact, we have a programmeknown as Agricultural Economics andResource Management. For the farm togenerate money, resources must be putin. For example, we have some unitswhich can easily be converted intopigsties and, if we bring in pigs, and wehave money to feed them, we can makea lot of money. Same thing applies topoultry and dairy farming.

Q: Agriculture has, for a long time, beenconsidered the backbone of manyeconomies in the world. Is this still thecase?

Agriculture is more than just abackbone; it is the survival of oureconomy. It is the one that builds upindustries. We need to identify what cangrow best in different regions. It isunfortunate that we have very fewextension officers majority of thembeing old.

Q: Many youth in Kenya do not considerAgriculture as an attractive business orcareer of choice as opposed to formalemployment. What is your comment onthis?This issue has really affected theagricultural sector. In my opinion, theyouth lack exposure, mentorship andresources to venture into agriculture.However, I am very happy to see that theyhave started coming together to formagricultural societies and some of themare even earning more than I am.

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Q: What are your current researchinterests?At the moment, I have a collaborativeresearch interest with Jaramogi OgingaOdinga University of Science andTechnology (JOOUST) on insects that canbe used for food and feeds. The researchis called INSEFOODS. It is a World Bankfunded project and I am it’s investigatorfor MMUST. Aside from that, plantnutrition research has been my area ofinterest up to today. I apply it in manysectors of nutrition.I am also supervising quite a number ofpostgraduate students who are doingresearch on horticulture. One of them isdoing research in managu and anotherone is working on flowers.

Q: Academics have, on occasions, beenaccused of doing research for the sakeof research. What are your views on thismatter?Doing research for the sake of researchor for promotion is very wrong. Manypeople write to put articles in journalsand as soon as they are promoted, that isit! I believe that good research must haveimpact. In fact, you are not a lecturer or aprofessor of any field unless thecommunity feels what you have done forthem. We have wrong policies that haveemphasized on promotion at theexpense of good research and one thatcan help communities. We need tochange.

Q: Have you ever thought of ormeasured the impact of your work onsociety? If yes what is it?Yes. Most of the flower farms in Naivashaare as a result of the students I haveproduced. Additionally, when I was in

JKUAT, I did some research on onionswith people from Europe. Later, I wentand planted some onions; also helped afarmer with the same. Right now, whenyou go to Bungoma, there are so manyonions.A while back, I started a Polytechnic inmy village because I realized that therewere so many jobless people there, andat the moment, it is a vocational trainingcentre by Bungoma County.

Q: The Commission for UniversityEducation (CUE) has set an upper limiton the number of students, both at PhDand Masters, that a Professor orLecturer can supervise at any given time.What are your views on this and why?I totally agree with CUE’s move but theybetter make it a good point becausesometimes they go overboard. Just likeon the issue of publications, people wantto say that they have supervised andgraduated so many. Look at whathappened at JKUAT. One persongraduating 16 PhDs! It is a joke.It is not easy and possible to graduatepostgraduate students en mass; studentsmust do the work, the work must be ofgood quality, and that can only be donewith a certain number of students.Another thing that CUE must come upwith is to give students the freedom tochange supervisors when they feel thatthey are not being supervised well.

Q: We understand that you areconcerned about protecting theenvironment. Tell us about it.I took Environmental Studies while I wasstill at the University of Florida.

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I am very passionate about doing theright things in order to conserve theenvironment; even when the NationalEnvironmental Management Authority(NEMA) started, I applied for a job but Iwas not taken and I was happy to be ascholar. I would have been sacked a longtime ago because of my levelheadedness.

I have done research and also publishedwith students on environment.Sometimes, I just do observation; forinstance, there is this one time that theroof of the Vice Chancellor’s Office andthe Engineering workshop were withasbestos, which are very cancerous. Iwent and reported the issue to Senate

Q: What is that one thing that you cansay you are yet to achieve?

I am very proud of what I have achievedso far although there are some thingsthat I have not seen working the way Ithought they would, but I am very

hopeful.

Q: Tell us one thing we do not knowabout you.

I believe in hard work and the Swahilisaying, tenda wema nenda zako.

Have faith in your own abilities, workhard and there is nothing you cannotaccomplish.

I am very humble; I believe that the moresenior you become, the more humbleyou should be so that the small personout there can approach you.

People do not know what I can do interms of mentorship.

I also go by the mantra ‘PROFESSIONALFOR HUMANITY’.

Q: Describe yourself in three words.

Humble. Hardworking. Realistic.

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Masinde Muliro University of Scienceand Technology is one of theinstitutions that was invited byMaseno School for the latter’sAnnual Career Day and school closingceremony on Friday, 26th July, 2019.The purpose of the event was toguide students in making informeddecisions while applying for coursesto pursue in universities and/orcolleges. It was evident that manysecondary school students facechallenges in choosing career pathsdue to lack of proper guidance.

Other organizations present were;Kenya Universities and CollegesCentral Placement Service (KUCCPS),Kenya Medical Training College(KMTC), Kenyatta University,Maseno University, Jaramogi OgingaOdinga University of Science andTechnology (JOOUST), and ShipeTravels.

KUCCPS helped students on how todetermine their cluster points andqualification for various coursesoffered in different universities in thecountry. KMTC, KU, JOOUST,MMUST and Maseno Universityshowcased their programmes andproducts as they answered questionsfrom students on the same.

Shipe Travels, a company that offersacademic and business tours toCanada, Turkey and Japan, took theMaseno School students through theprocess of how to take part in theiracademic trips. According to ShipeTravels, these tours give students anopportunity to learn, explore andhave first-hand experience with whatit would be like to pursue highereducation in top internationaluniversities. Their next trip will be toCanada, Ontario on Tuesday, 13th

August, 2019.

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Dr. Haroun Chemnjor from the School of Public Health, Biomedical Sciences and Technology (SPHBS&T) taking to the students

Dr. Treazer Okoth, the Director of Career Services, taking the MasenoSchool students through the programmes offered at the University.

The Annual CES- Kenya/Canada Day Charity run 2019, coordinated by theGames and Sports Department at Masinde Muliro University of Science andTechnology (MMUST) took place on Saturday 27th July 2019 at the Varsitygrounds.

The Theme for this year’s Canada Day Charity Run was “Kenyan youthrunning to support the community”, drawing participation from over twentyfive (25) secondary schools in the Western region and beyond. Students fromsecondary schools such as Kakamega Muslims, Lions High School-Kisumu,and St. Kalori Lwanga, among others, took part in the 5km run.

Community Education Services (CES) Canada Day run is meant to bringtogether beneficiaries of the CES Canada education program in Kenya tocelebrate Canada Day and increase awareness on the plight of needystudents in secondary schools. Led by the CES Kenya Alumni, CES team,students, principals of respective secondary schools and guests took part in atree planting exercise after the run with over one hundred (100) treesplanted in selected areas within the University.

Prior to the Charity run, the CES Kenya team, led by their President, Mr.Michael Frederiksen, paid a courtesy call to MMUST Ag. Vice Chancellor, Prof.Asenath Sigot, on Friday, 26th July 2019. Prof. Sigot said that suchpartnerships are highly appreciated.

“We can think of other ways of partnering and encourage more research,”said Prof. Sigot.

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Speaking during the closing and awardsceremony, the CES-Kenya/CanadaPresident, Mr. Michael Frederiksen, saidthat MMUST has opened doors formany CES sponsored students who haveexcelled and continue to give back tothe society. Mr. Fredriksen said that hehas witnessed the growth of theUniversity in terms of new programmes,buildings, facilities and studentenrolment. He noted that every studentin Canada earns forty (40) hours ofvolunteer work before they graduatefrom high school.“Students should be encouraged to do

more volunteer work as a way of givingback to the society,” he said.Mr. Jacob Kitari, a part-time lecturerfrom the Department of EducationalPlanning and Management (EPM) atMMUST, encouraged the students towork hard for quality grades in order toaccess quality courses in gooduniversities such as MMUST. Mr. Kitarisaid that CES Canada Education Initiativehas helped many needy students inKenya, adding that such support is rareto come by.“Now that we are going towardsCompetence Based Curriculum (CBC),identify what you are good at and workon it,” he urged the students.Juma Edwin Nyongesa, Chairperson,CES Alumni Association, said that he washumbled to be a beneficiary of the CESeducation program. He urged thestudents to take advantage of thesupport and work hard in order to joingood universities.Mr. Issah Kweyu, from the Departmentof Health Promotion and SportsSciences, also encouraged students totry out for Talent Scholarships offeredby MMUST and which cater for both

degree and diploma courses. He saidthat more than two hundred (200)students have gained from thescholarship since its inception.

Mr. Shisoka Akaka, from the Games andSports Department, coordinated theawards ceremony. Trophies and medalswere awarded to students who did wellin the run and overall best schools. TheCES Kenya/Canada President, Mr.Frederiksen was also awarded for hisremarkable contributions to educationof needy students in Kenyan secondaryschools. Mr. Frederiksen said that theCanada Day Run was not a competitionbut a motivation exercise for thestudents.

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CES Team takes a photo with representatives from schools and students awarded after the 2019 CES-Kenya/Canada Day Run.

CES-Kenya/Canada President, Mr. Michael Frederiksen plants a tree

Benard Wafula, also known as Ben Wafula the Model, is a self-proclaimed runwaymodel who has participated in quite a number of pageants, including MrKakamega County and Mr Valentine’s Bungoma County. The First Year studentof Education Arts, majoring in English Literature, started modelling at theUniversity when he took part in the first ever Mr and Miss MMUST Fresher’scompetition and became the first runners up. Aside from modelling, Benard is anactor, an event organizer and promoter, and dresses models and music artistsfrom time to time. He attributes all his work to modelling which he believesopened doors for him.

Ben is one of the participant who worked with Team Environment Kenya (TEK)to organize Mr and Miss Environment Kenya, Kakamega County, which tookplace on 12th July, 2019. It is from this event that he was prompted to apply for atender to promote the upcoming Miss Face of Devolution Kenya event which heis hopeful to win. He is currently working with Busuma Productions of Nyota TVto produce films. Modelling has enabled him to interact and make friends withpeople he never expected to meet. It has become a source of income for him ashe can afford to pay his own school fees sometimes.

Wafula is also passionate about changing the society. He is one of the foundingmembers of Family Kenya Association, an organization that tries to portrayKenya as one family in spite of cultural differences. The group occasionally putstogether resources to help orphans and widows. Other than that, he has takenpart in the country wide tree planting campaign organized by TEK incollaboration with Greening Schools Program.

In future, Benard intends to venture into script-writing, commercial modellingsince his main desire is to become an international model.

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BenardWafulaposes for a photo

BenardWafulacrowiningMiss Environment, Kakamega

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