At the Social Hall in Eldoret town on Monday, the room went silent as Mercy Tarus, 24, rose to speak at a meeting convened by the county government to discuss the botched Uasin Gishu airlift education program.
For the county leadership, nothing may have prepared them for the turn of events.
At least not the dress down that Governor Jonathan Bii, his deputy John Barorot and Senator Jackson Mandago received from a young outspoken woman, whose dreams to study in Canada were shattered in the scandalous overseas airlift programme.
It may as well have been the first time the top county leadership was coming face to face with the wrath of Generation Z at a public forum, as she did not mince her words, taking on her governor, deputy governor, and Senator on how they have handled the mess.
The county leadership had convened the meeting to listen to the grievances of parents and students who paid money under the controversial programme, which cannot now be properly accounted for. They have therefore never travelled.
Some 125 students from the county had their overseas study dreams cut short after officials at the county government handling the trust account holding their funds failed to remit the same to the target learning institutions in Finland and Canada, leaving them stranded at home.
Last month, Governor Bii declared that the county government is not in a position to refund the money being demanded by parents because, in his own words, the trust account has only Sh1.8 million.
Kimutai Kirui, a human rights activist championing for the rights of students affected by the Finland and Canada students airlift programme addresses Uasin Gishu County officials during a meeting held at Eldoret Municipality Social Hall in the county on August 07, 2023.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
He had shifted blame to his predecessor- former Governor and now Uasin Gishu Senator Mandago, asking him to explain what happened with the money.
“We are not able to refund the money demanded by parents regarding the Canada and Finland study program because the trust account has only Sh1.8 million. A whopping Sh33 million cannot be accounted for,” said the county boss.
His deputy Mr Barorot had said then that they are engaging the Finnish and Canadian universities for a possible refund of the money.
When Mercy left her parents’ home in Chepkoilel on Monday to join other disgruntled Uasin Gishu parents and fellow students now demanding a full refund after their dream to travel abroad came to naught, she had expected to return home with a cheque of Sh982, 000- the money she paid for the aborted trip to study Social Work Northern Lights College in Canada.
She had never intended to address the meeting since they had picked a representative, Dr Paul Maritim.
Nevertheless, her lecture to the county leadership has ended up trending in a now-viral video.
Maybe things would have been different had the leaders kept time. It is their lateness that had provoked young Mercy’s wrath.
The tension in the room was palpable. One by one, the Kabarak University teaching graduate had dressed down the top county leaders, even informing the governor that she had schooled with three of his children, now all abroad pursuing their dreams.
“You called us for a 9am meeting, what time did you arrive here? You probably don’t expect me to ask such a question. But we elected you to serve us. I may seem very foolish to say these things considering I am young,” she had started.
They had been asked to be seated at Social Hall by 9am but were kept waiting until almost half past noon.
“The leaders’ handlers could be heard saying we should be kept waiting until we get tired and hungry and leave the meeting,” she recounted in a later interview with Nation.Africa on Tuesday.
Her moment of reckoning would come after she realised they were about to conclude the meeting with their governor without passing the message home- at least not as strongly as she felt it should have been done.
“After all our representatives had addressed the meeting, I realized no one had held them to account over their delay to arrive and I felt it was insensitive because we had old people and sick people among us. I was irked by their lateness and their lack of concern given that they were the conveners of the meeting,” she explained.
It was a tense and emotional meeting where tears rolled freely, as the parents and students dressed down their leaders, putting the trio to task over the bungled program and how they have handled complaints and demands for refunds.
The attendees called out their leaders over their casual response to the plight of parents and students whose dreams of overseas study were shattered, with some narrating the resulting depression, diabetes, and hypertension following a two-year-long frustration.
Parent after another recounted how they were suffering after paying millions of shillings under the program, yet their children have never been airlifted to commence their studies.
The angry parents and students maintained their threat to paralyse the Devolution Conference in Eldoret next week.
It is, however, Mercy’s boldness and passion to aptly articulate their grievances that marked the climax of the meeting, leaving the county leadership and all dumbfounded.
“My grandfather has not eaten anything since morning. We have brought out parents here, some have pressure and diabetes. Others are depressed.
Mr Chelimim I schooled with your three kids, do you know any anti-depressants…? You don’t,” she had stated.
“I schooled with Beryl Bii in primary, she is in the UK right now. I schooled with Brinnard, now in Australia, and Bill too,” she told the governor.
“Mr Barorot, you told us some of your kids are abroad and told our parents they are our children, where is Barorot’s child here, please stand up. Where are Bii’s children? Mandagos?”
“I am going to tell you the truth, you are very mean with the truth, you smile at us with a very smooth tongue and very soft face that looks very innocent but you keep lying,” she told Mr Barorot.
Mercy’s father is on anti-depressants costing Sh200 daily, and her parents were proud of her boldness in putting the leaders to task.
When they rose to speak, the leaders had run out of words, struggling to explain themselves to the chagrin of the parents and students.
Janet Cherotich, one of the students affected by the Finland and Canada students airlift programme speaks during a meeting held at Eldoret Municipality Social Hall in the county on August 07, 2023.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
“I am open to any questions and I have recorded statements with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and I will do so with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) as well because I want nothing but the truth. People have suffered and it is equally affecting me,” Senator Mandago said.
He defended the program saying it was meant to change the livelihoods of the Uasin Gishu people.
Governor Bii sought more time to allow them to seek funds to refund the affected parents and students, saying it was not an easy task.
“The resounding message by all is a refund and as the county, we shall not sit but look for ways to ensure the monies are returned to parents,” he said.
By the end of the meeting, Mercy was relieved that she had talked on behalf of hundreds of voiceless students and their parents.
She boldly asked the leaders to tell parents and the students the truth and stop habitual lies. She told them those who were conned were on anti-depressant drugs.
“The leaders’ children who we schooled together are enjoying lavish lives while studying abroad, while I am selling porridge and mandazi. Their parents did not sell property including land or applied for loans to enable them to fly overseas like us. I wanted the leaders to know what we feel after being taken in circles and the failure to get a refund,” she said on Tuesday.
She explained that she only wanted answers because the leaders have been very sly and cagey about the issues raised over the program and taking parents in circles.
Was she rude? No, she says.
“I was not rude, but I wanted the leaders to stop being insensitive to our suffering. I was angry about their don’t care attitude. Leadership should be about servant ship and not selfish. Parents have been robbed without violence and the county leaders should be held to account,” she affirmed her position.
“The leaders have been selling hope to a drowning man who is clutching on a straw. The numerous meetings we have had have only increased the suffering of the already miserable parents and students,” she stated.
She said the leaders have been tasked with public offices in good faith and when they fail to discharge their duties diligently, the electorate is left to suffer.
Uasin Gishu County Commissioner Edison Nyale who also attended the meeting said he fought back tears as parents and the students recounted their ordeal.
“I am optimistic a solution will be found within the shortest time possible. I have sat here listening to the parents and it is heart-wrenching,” he said.
Last week, angry parents and students denied and rubbished claims by the county leadership that they were refunded some Sh68million under the controversial study deal with Finnish and Canadian universities, putting the county leadership on the spot.
It was a strange twist since already Governor Bii had admitted just three weeks before then that some Sh32.7 million paid by parents in the controversial program could not be accounted for. He had ruled out the possibility of refunding the students as the trust account was dry.
The angry parents and students took to Eldoret streets and staged demos last Tuesday disputing the refund claims by the county leadership and demanding their money back.
Waving branches and placards reading ‘no refund no peace’, ‘stop peddling lies’, ‘no refund no devolution conference’, ‘we don’t want stories, we want our money’, the rioting protesters paralysed business in Eldoret town, forcing police to barricade the entrance to the Uasin Gishu county headquarters and the county commissioner’s office to bar them from accessing.
At Monday’s meeting, Dr Paul Maritim had been picked to speak for the complainants.
In a memo, parents insisted on a full refund of the money failure to which they threatened to further reach out to President William Ruto at State House.
“You have been adamant and dismissive of our issues and we will not take the attitude any more. We are ready to walk naked to State House if that is what it will take to get our payment back,” stated Dr Maritim.
“As parents, we are serving notice that beginning this Wednesday (today), we will begin our protests until we get back our money. We need to find alternatives for our children who are now frustrated at home. Our daily operations have been interrupted by the numerous trips to the county offices to seek a refund,” he stated.
Another parent, Mr Reuben Chepses accused the leaders of playing with the minds of the desperate parents and students.
“Eng Barorot is being economical with the truth because he knows exactly what happened to the program. We have evidence that in April alone, Sh196 million was withdrawn from the overseas account trust. How were these monies moved without your knowledge?” he posed.
He claimed some county officials who were entrusted with the accounts withdrew monies even three times a day.
“The transactions happened as our leaders remained silent. Today we would be here thanking you for making the dreams of our children become a reality. But we are here pointing accusing fingers at you and tossing curses because we were duped by the very people we trusted,” he said.
Eldoret-based human rights activist Kimutai Kirui said Uasin Gishu was steadily becoming a fraudsters paradise.
“We had the First Choice scandal where thousands of youths were conned millions for jobs abroad, and now the students airlift. Thousands of people are suffering and yet the architects of the scam are walking scot-free,” he said.
EACC and DCI are already investigating the alleged loss of more than Sh38 million in the Finnish Airlift scandal.
Cumulative, parents claim over Sh800 million may have been lost in airlift scandal – according to EACC probe documents seen by Nation.Africa.