A lecturer at Kisii University complains that he lives like a beggar yet he is a PhD holder.Here is the story:
I am a lecturer at Kisii University, but every day I live like a beggar. They call me “part-time,” yet this is the only job I have, the only way I survive. Months go by without pay. My landlord bangs on my door. My children are chased from school because I cannot raise their fees. In my own neighborhood, people whisper — some even laugh — because I wear the title “lecturer” but live with no dignity.
When the new VC came in a year ago, I had hope. I thought maybe he would at least acknowledge our pain. But to this day, he has never bothered to meet us, never listened to our cries. We are treated as ghosts in the same institution where we pour out our knowledge to students.
The injustice is worse when it comes to pay. If I teach 15 students, I earn Ksh 60,000. If I teach 250 or more students, I still earn Ksh 60,000. Tell me, where is the fairness? Is this not modern-day slavery, disguised in academic robes?
I chair a group of part-time lecturers, and I have knocked on the doors of MPs, pleading for a national policy to protect us. But we are still waiting, still suffering.
We are not asking for riches. We are asking for dignity. We are asking to be seen as human beings at this institution. Please, amplify our voices and help us dignify this noble career before it kills the very people who give it life.
