THE IRREFUTABLE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE JKUSA AWARDS AND JKUSA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL SEATS AND GENERAL VARSITY PROSPERITY

The office of the president is at work putting together the annual JKUSA awards ceremony to celebrate Trendsetters in various fields. Official dates and Categories to be released soon. Throughout its 8 in existence, an undeniable patter has emerged.

The JKUSA Awards have long been seen as a pedestal for all those who would dare to dream and follow through in the pursuit of their dreams. From a pedestrian view,  these awards are so far the most competitive, coveted, and revered by most students in JKUAT campuses nationwide. Perhaps it has something to do with the Pomp and Circumstance that is accorded to the ceremony itself, with previous editions having seen Entertainment from Dj Crème De la Crème, and various guest star artists, not to forget the actual accolades credited to the winners.

On the surface of it “The JKUSA AWARDS is an annual event that seeks to recognize exemplary students in various fields, such as entrepreneurship, education, leadership, talent, professions so as to promote such endeavours amongst the students.”- according to its mission and vision statement. Upon dissecting these awards however, It is undeniable that there is a greater plot at play. Call it God, destiny or fate, there emerges a pattern that reveals a great overlap between those who vie in the various categories provisioned for in these awards and those who vie for executive and congress positions during the JKUSA elections.

The motivation for contesting for these awards certainly varies with each individual. This brings us to the five types of JKUSA awards aspirants

 1. The happy-go-lucky

These are the contestants who prior to stumbling upon the advertisement poster for the awards on an acquaintance’s whatsapp story, they knew nothing about the awards. The poster looked interesting enough and they have just about the right amount of self-esteem from being told by their parents that they are special, and conveniently enough there was the link to nominations right after the poster. And so mindlessly, they click and nominate themselves in various positions and proceed to solicit votes from their whatsapp contacts.

2. The easily impressionable

This category of contestants start off as indifferent to the awards. But a careless whisper from a loud-mouthed friend -“btw ukona mwili ya model”- quickly plants a covetous seed in their minds and turns them from lethargical by-standers to buoyant hopefuls. And so they they enter the race not knowing that their source of confidence already has a preferred candidate for the proposed position

3. The thoroughly deserving

Yours and my favourite contestants probably fall in this category. These are mostly creatives and artistic (visual, literary and performing) in nature. Photographers, MCEEs, Artists, comedians, dance crews and others who’s portfolios speak for themselves. They have worked hard and smart all year long, we love their work and at times there may be more than one deserving candidate per category; which is why falling short of clinching an award should not be seen as a general failure. Some of the contestants that fall in this category are pushed to vie due to their fans’ demands although ultimately they have to want it for themselves in order to win.

4. Lone rangers

They don’t know us and we don’t know them. Some of them are really talented and maybe even deserving of an award but their lack of online presence and notable absence during public students’ forums does not help their claim at all. 

5. The master strategists

They probably knew about the awards before you. They attended last years’ awards and the one’s before and came to a conclusion to vie. Everything they have done this year has been about positioning themselves for the award they are contesting for. They take clandestine meetings with figures they consider influential in a bid to amass weight to their claim. It does not end there; to them these awards are a preface for their future plans because they know that any publicity is good publicity. They have others doing their bidding for them on social media platforms and other students’ forums. It is this category that has candidates who are the most ambitious. Their plans propagate to some social, financial or political endeavour in the near future.

It is this last category of candidates that the rest of this article is tethered to. JKUSA awards 2018 was not without its fair share of controversy and flare, in equal measure. Whether it is a master stroke of coincidence or the deft dealings of the Master Strategists, here is some proof you cannot ignore, that rings the title of this article ever so true:

1. Naomi Nyambura- Accommodation secretary 2019

She contested for the Most influential Female student and bitterly lost despite everyone expecting a landslide victory for her in this particular award. Hers was one of the cases that cast a bit of doubt on the credibility of the awards last year. She however soldiered on and in spirited fashion clinched the JKUSA Health and Accommodation secretary 2019 seat against a worthy opponent.

2. Mabel Karani- House Deputy Speaker

The JKUSA 2019 deputy speaker also fell to Feyruz Bashir in the contest for the most influential female student. 12months later however it is her name that is still on people’s lips having played her cards right to ascend to the deputy leader of congress position.

3. Maxwell Okumu- EC CHAIRPERSON 2019

The JKUSA electoral commission boss had it all going with the JKUAT Debate society with massive wins from Amnesty international debates and Scholars festival poising him for the Male club leader of the year 2018 award. It was Nigel Hector of JKUAT Rover Crew who spoilt this particular party. A mere three months later however, he ascended to the position of Lead Commissioner of the JKUSA Electoral Commission as well as being the Lead coordinator of the JKUAT Soccer League , now in its final stages.    

4. Chris Picton- School Rep SONRAS

He clinched the award for Male sports personality of the year 2018 against stiff competition. Having seemingly proved his mettle he was, without official opposition,  elected to congress on the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural sciences representative ticket. He was also appointed to the JKUSA sports committee on which he serves until such a time as when it will be dissolved. Certainly on a roll.

The consequent success of the following individuals goes to show just how powerful an impact a calculated appearance on the stage for awards gala night may have on one’s image.

5. Odada Orinda – JKUSA Academic Secretary 2019

Although he was not contesting for an award, he appeared multiply on the JKUSA 2018 awards show stage, most notable of those appearances being on honours of conferring the  Deejay of the year, 2018) award upon Deejay Ocheezy. He was also in Terrence Omondi’s gallery as he collected his Blogger of the year, 2018 award. His was possibly part of a larger complex scheme catapulting toward the Academic Secretary’s office in which he now continues to serve.

6. Bruce Byron- JKUSA Secretary General 2019

He appeared on the stage to present the Club of the year award to JKUAT Redcross Society. That may have been enough publicity to propel him to become a front runner in the race for the secretary General position which he won on the backdrop of a fierce contest which is rumoured to have also involved a duel with one of the contenders.

7. ELizabeth Kwamboka- Female Class rep of the year 2018:

Few months after winning the Female class rep of the year award she was in the race for a role in congress. She did not win the position, however. Part of the loss in that particular race is credited to a falling out with some political figures who happened to have had a bit of a say in the matter.

A few other examples come to mind before wrapping this proposition up:

Amin Ali Tiflow-Seized the award for male designer of the year 2018 he was well on his way to contest for JKUSA Sports and Entertainment seat before several rounds of consultations saw him dropp of the race and support a different candidate

Frank Osoyo- Was awarded male model of the year 2017 and wasted no time in scaling the heights of the modelling industry and is Now Mr World, Kenya.

Duncan Odera Billionaire Contested for Sports and Entertainment Docket soon after winning the award for Male Social Media personality 2018

Adan Ishmael-appeared to award Most promising club of the year 2018 to Mind your Mind JKUAT and  on the turn of the year introduced himself on the political arena and clinched the widely contested Finance docket 2018/2019.

Several inferences can be made from the above information but a resounding conclusion hangs bare; for the larger part of coincidence, the cast is the same between those vying for the JKUSA awards and the protagonists of the JKUSA Executive and Congress elections. And so, on the eve of the awards voting deadline day I couldn’t help but marvel at the idea that one of the candidates I was voting for,  shall certainly  be on the candidate list for the executive council. For the awards aspirants who are in denial that the thought is yet to cross your minds, let this be the voice that whispers madness to your ear; “btw next year elections unaweza” and if nobody else, blame it on me.