Achom
September 7, 2016
Njimia Muchiri is the passionate young man behind the accreditation of technical universities in Kenya. Two years later, Njimia Muchiri is wrapping up his final year as a civil engineering student at Technical University of Mombasa. From the students’ servant to suspension twice in a row to demonstrations to expulsion then to accreditation of just to mention a few, Technical University of Kenya, Technical University of Mombasa and Dedan Kimathi University of Technology. Meet the legend Njimia Muchiri, nicknamed Morio.
What position(s) did you hold while in student politics?
I first vied for the accommodation secretary seat, which was an easy task. I later upped my political ambition by going for the secretary general which was a success.
What’s your opinion on today’s student politics?
University politics are very tribal. Personally it was hard to overcome this, managing to win not only an election but also a re election. I come from a minority tribe in Kenya, Mbeere Community. However this factor did not discourage me, knowing that I had less than 10 tribe mates at the institution.
What was the ‘secret’ behind your winnings? Bribery or goons, is it all a myth?
All those myths are true. You obliviously need to ‘fuel your campaign’ but I capitalized mostly in the ordinary students. Those are the majority and most affected with any school related issue. Ordinary students here, I mean out at fairly affordable localities such as the mess, sleep within the hostels or school vicinity, watch football together. So I identify myself as one of them, that way I earned their trust and confidence, making them believe that they were voting in a fellow common student.
What was the best part of being a student leader?
You get to execute leadership skills and also exposure by learning how to handle different situations sometimes under pressure and also handle different people. It was also a challenging task that made me learn how to handle my personal studies and the interests of 10K students.
What was the worst part of being a student leader?
Not that I have any regrets, but the two suspensions and expulsion took me steps back in achieving my target objectives. I was later reinstated through the university council with directions from the National Assembly.
How did you organize such a successful strike that brought positive change?
I had back up from fellow students. At some point, I took them to the Mombasa County commissioner office Marwa, and physically expressed their concerns and grievances on a one on one basis. It was as though we had two administrative units, at the university and the national level. This was one of the factors that earned me two suspensions and an expulsion.
Where do you draw your inspiration from, to be the student servant?
My inspiration comes from Steve Biko and Martin Luther Jr.
The legendary once upon a time student leader is now an entrepreneur, the director of his construction company Kirijada Construction Company based in Mombasa and Embu. Apart from politics and books, he has a foot in the agribusiness a family affair in Embu. He is off politics for now.
Njimia is the man to thank for spearheading the national wide demos on the accreditation of technical universities in Kenya.
