JAMILA'S MEMO: Varsity students - Bread or stones?

I have been thinking about the weight of words this week; uzito wa maneno.

Because words don't weigh anything, do they? You cannot put them on a weighing scale. You cannot carry them in a sack. But some words are heavier than others. And I think the weight of words also depends on who is speaking.

When parents make a promise to their children, they expect them to keep it. When a teacher makes a promise to students, they expect it to be kept. And surely, when the President of the Republic makes a promise to the children of this country, those words carry the weight of the office he occupies.

On July 21, President William Ruto had some very good news for Kenyan parents. He said that going forward, every student who is placed in a university or college would receive full funding for their higher education. In fact, the President went further. He said parents could contribute if they wanted to, but no child should miss an opportunity because their parents could not afford the household contribution.

Then he gave us a timeline. September. Well... September imefika. And so have the children.

First-year students are reporting to universities across this country. Suitcases and admission letters in hand. Dreams in their eyes. But for many of them, the money they were told would be there isn't there yet. And now we are explaining. There is legislation to be passed. There is a new funding framework being worked on. Applications have to be processed. Universities have procedures. Government has procedures. All understandable.

But there is an 18-year-old somewhere standing at a university finance office who doesn't understand any of that. They understood the President. And this is where uzito wa maneno matters. Because when the President says something, people don't hear it as a suggestion. They plan around it. A parent hears, “Your child will be fully funded,” and perhaps stops looking for that fifty thousand shillings.

Perhaps a mother somewhere sleeps easier because, for once, she thinks: At least karo ya huyu mtoto imeshughulikiwa. Because the President said so. And September comes. The child goes to the university, lakini pesa hazijafika.

There is a verse in the Bible that asks a very simple question: if your child asks you for bread, do you give them a stone? But these children did not even ask us for the bread. We promised it to them. And that makes the responsibility even greater. Uzito wa maneno.

Maybe sometimes the machinery of government needs to move before the microphone does. Work out the implementation.

And then, Mr President, tell the children: Come, your fees are taken care of. Otherwise, the speech ends, the convoy leaves. But the child is still standing at the university finance office.

Words and promises matter. And the higher the office, the heavier the words.