The New Cash Cow for University Students

University students are known to be aggressive, smart and people who think outside the box, they command a certain degree of trust and respect from the society though some don't deserve it. Most of the students, 'comrades', enjoy financial support from the government and their guardians but as time goes by, the reality beckons, making an extra coin is not only an option but a confirmation of future abilities to be independent. It’s from such motivation that comrades have found new ways of making money.

Comrades are trading their brains, IP, (read intellectual property) with the main customers being politicians. The talking point in recent times has been the flocking of politician on social media since it has emerged as an authoritative-sounding and diverse campaign tool, making the traditional campaign committees obsolete. University students have proved to be such a tool and mavericks at this. Running ‘Facebook groups, pages and even facebook and twitter personal accounts!

Girls be warned, as you inbox ‘Mr. Mweshimiwa’ your ex could be the admin. It’s a no brainer that girls abandon dudes in campus for waheshimiwa and from a friend’s conversation every time you are online on a ‘mweshimiwa’ account you get many hits.

The Kenyan political campaigns have been considered largely dysfunction because of the bribery of the electorate. This has substantially had adverse effects on the students, transforming them (students) into an extremist force that is dismissive of the legitimacy of its political duty of putting checks and balances on the politicians.

Comrades can’t get cooperation to serve the national interest when one side of the divide sees no distinction between the national interest and its own partisan triumph, publicly putting their support where their money comes from; declaring support for politicians irrespective of their qualifications, reform ability and development track record.

Comrades have been making waves as Many have perfected the art of running and managing on-line social networks for aspirants not even in their locality, others double deal the aspirants to make double earning. Attacks are intentionally made to be countered in order to show Mr. Politician how the job is ‘progressing’. You shouldn’t be surprised to get notifications that so and so added you to such and such group or a chat pop-up requesting you to comment or like a post.

Giving our politicians bragging rights for things they hardly know about how they work, you will hear them say "angalia facebook ama twitter uone who is so & so"! a proof he knows nothing or else he could have said "here is my twitter handle or this is my user name". This trend is killing the comrades’ power since comrades can’t speak in one voice, or be the light of society in endorsing a worthy candidate.

During the heydays when ‘comrades power’ was POWER!!! There would have been a broad bipartisan consensus in favor of strong action, and there would also have been wide agreement about what kind of action was needed. But that was then. Today, comrades power is marked by a combination of bitter partisanship and intellectual confusion — and both are, I would argue, largely the result of politicians money. A paying job but as comrades where are the university students steering the country to?



Special thanks to Mark Amollo(mark-amollo.blogspot.com) for contribution and Editing