Barely three months after friendly academic fire threatened to bring down the operations at the University of Nairobi (UoN), another fire struck again this week.
In a brazen show straight out of an arson movie, students set ablaze a section of their accommodation quarters, protesting against the mysterious death of one of their comrades, and the death of peace in dispute resolution.
You have seen the dramatic video of that student literally dragging fire up the stairs of one of the buildings.
For a long time, we have lived with the notion that those who play with fire eventually get burnt, but that boy demonstrated in the practicals that the arson handbook has since been revised.
This is not the first time UoN students are using violent means to express their dissatisfaction with the university administration. They have stoned motorists before, lit bonfires on highways, caused businesses to close, and stepped on the toes of anti-riot police.
In nearly all these instances, they have been careful not to vent their anger at university assets and liabilities.
When a sensitive Rubicon like this is crossed, it is time the country asked itself whether our children are safe in university premises anymore, because this country has a horrific history with school fires razing down dormitories and killing school children in them.
It would never have come to this had the UoN security team had a sit-down with the student fraternity and dialogued on the way out regarding the deteriorating security on campus.
When you treat students like children to be given orders and not listened to, you are breeding a dangerous culture of dictatorship.
There’s a reason the university is not gazetted as a military camp where officers take orders without question – and it is because if you give students guns to defend the university from external aggression, there is no guarantee they would use them as sticks.
University students aren’t children any more. They are adults of sound mind.
If the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) entrusts Kenyans above 18 with the decision to elect the President of Kenya, they, surely, can be left to make decisions about their security on campus, without patronage or dictatorship.
Each year, universities retreat to cherry-pick the brightest bulbs from a pool of final-year high school students to further their higher education.
These are students who have been subjected to a rigorous four-year academic process.
At the very least, the university administration should consult them on campus security matters because not only do they have the brains to come up with solutions, but they also have the energy to throw fire at their problems.
If universities cannot justify always picking the best brains each selection year, then the current admission criteria should be abolished and be replaced with a lottery where everyone has a fair chance at selection.
The university administration has treated university students like babies for far too long.
There should be little or no complaints when the students throw fiery toys off the pram, and into the streets.
What happened at the UoN this week reflects badly on the university administration’s disregard for the culture of dialogue and dispute resolution, which they preach on campus, and the inability of the student leadership to think beyond their noses.
Time has come for university students’ leadership to explore better ways of engaging their respective administrations whenever they have a bone to chew.
You can organise sustained sit-ins at university grounds, walk out of lecture halls in protest, sit on highways and count cars, even do push-ups along the road to encourage healthy living.
The era of breaking tree branches and waving them on the road ended with environmental conservation.
If you want Kenyans to trust you with alternative leadership of this country, at least show them you’re capable of making gains in students’ rights without killing windows and dancing with fire.
During this soul-searching period of Lent, there can never be a better demonstration of servant leadership than to take a cue from Jesus Christ and treat students like the children of God, by washing their feet even when they don’t deserve it.
