In the Court of Public Opinion: Is Senator Isaac Melly’s UDOF Program a Successful Failure?

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It is not always that you get to use success and failure in one sentence but recent developments within Uasin Gishu County and Senator Isaac Melly’s action not to “act” gives me the rare opportunity to break all the gravitational rules of the queens language.

First let me take you back in time,Jeff Koinange would tell you to “sit back and relax” -In a speech that was rousing and inspirational the Senator during the launch of his UDOF(Uasin Gishu Development and Academic Outreach Program) outlined his proposal for a wide range of improvements to the County’s Education system.

The money raised from the launch, Ksh 9 Million to be precise, would be used to take needy bright students back to class.Melly linked the County’s desperate youth to the state of poverty and lack of education in a tone that conveyed both passion and empathy, and left me wondering, “Where has this guy been for the past one year?”

The Senator’s plan would include the creation of a system that would identify and recommend deserving-poor to be sponsored to study. If properly conceived and executed, the program would/will become the best thought out program.

The details of the proposal are less
important than whether the proposal
itself is a sign that Melly and his team were ready, at long last, to engage this awful state of poverty and lack of fees with the sense of urgency and bold initiatives it required.

The plan however flopped. Last week an expose’ on a poor bright Edmond Kipchirchir proved UDOF  was/is a sitting duck, if not lame. That the needy chap had to herd to earn a living and at the same time save in order to release his KCSE Certificate was not only heartbreaking,it was shameful to the leadership of the day.

How could UDOF be launched without having systems in place to identify and recommend poor students for the program? Where is this Kshs 9 Million that was raised? Why has Senator Melly not commented on the matter?Although it is already too late to lament over that it is high time Senator Melly institute a competent team to ensure the program rises to such an occassion.

A good faith commitment to rebuilding the stature of the whole project would show that the UDOF Patron has some idea of the scale of the effort that’s needed to overcome the worst downturn , ultimately, to build a program that offers the prospect of a decent education to the next couple of generations.

The question that remains, however, is whether he and his UDOF team will fight with the skill and tenacity needed to guide his outreach proposal to fruition, and whether they will finally focus intensely, as they should have been doing all along, on the difficult but absolutely critical task of putting hundreds of poor school going kids back to school.

Like many who follow the development scene, I was excited about the prospect of an outreach program, one that could
be used by kids in our county.

If the project was to succeed,Melly would discover alot of things.One of them is wether like my local “Ceciliah” who has enough talents in brewing liquids capable of making a man sing about his Mercedez Benz when he does not own even a bicycle,he has the skills to make Uasin Gishu County residents sing him praises.

Luckily for the Senator,it is not yet too late, if the program turns out to be successful much will be forgiven but if it turns out to be a huge disappointment, then what we have seen thus far will be viewed as the commencing of a very different megatrend – a return to kleptocracy.

The UDOF initiative is particularly illustrative here: if indeed tens of poor school going children do indeed end up having a chance to get an education,Senator Melly will be seen as an heroic visionary. Even those who did not vote for him will be obliged to confess that he has pulled off a miracle of governance.

But if  the program flops – as majority now strongly suspect it will – then it will be remembered that in Kenya, the most iconic scams, always come clothed in the shining robes of a bold new initiative designed to shower blessings on the public.

With last week’s developments and following intense attacks on UDOF, Senator Melly now faces one of the greatest tests of his Senatorship. How he responds in the weeks and months to come will largely shape his long-term legacy.