• The seemingly agitated student begun by questioning why the leaders unapologetically arrived late for the meeting which had been scheduled to start at 9am.
• As a result, the elderly parents who had arrived on time were kept waiting for hours despite them being sickly and on medication.
Image: HANDOUT
Hatuna story mingi! These were the opening words of a seemingly agitated young lady who was set to benefit from the Finland education airlift programme.
She questioned why the leaders unapologetically arrived late for the meeting which had been scheduled to start at 9 am.
"First of all you have called us for a meeting with our parents, you said the meeting will be at 9 am, what time did you come?" She questioned the leadership.
The words were directed to Uasin Gishu leaders who had turned up for a meeting with the students and their parents. The leaders include Governor Jonathan Bii, his Deputy John Barorot and Senator Jackson Mandago.
“Probably you don’t expect me to ask such a question but these are the people that elected you to serve them. I may seem very foolish in front of you considering I am very young,” she went on.
The student, who graduated from Kabarak University in 2021, said she now hawks porridge after the failed Finland promise adding that many of those affected are now on antidepressants.
“Yesterday I was selling cups of uji. I am a graduate, and I was supposed to go to Canada, I am selling uji and that is kazi ni kazi and that is okay, your daughter probably is earning her euros in the UK right now,” she lamented.
"This government was for hustlers. We do not want to hear many stories. You people are very mean with the truth."
She went on to ask the leaders if they knew anything about antidepressants, and challenged them to mention one antidepressant they knew.
Antidepressants are a type of medicine used to treat clinical depression. They can also be used to treat a number of other conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) generalised anxiety disorder. post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
"Please google medicine on anti depressants so that you know what it is. My grandfather has not eaten since morning. Some are sick, some are on medication, some have depression, some have diabetes," she said.
“Mr Chelilim(Governor Bii)nilisoma na watoto wako watatu, nataka nikuulize swali moja, unajua dawa ya depression? Do you know any antidepressants? You don’t."
She said they never gave the officials a go-ahead to use their money which was meant for education
“Hatuna story mingi, we did not give you permission to use our money to pay for other students, we do not really want to know the many stories," she said.
Parents and students affected by the Finland education row in Uasin Gishu county wept on Monday before Governor Bii and Senator Jackson Mandago as they narrated their stories.
The two leaders had called a meeting but most of the parents and their children could not hold back their tears of pain.
Emotions ran high as some of the parents narrated how they sold their property or used retirement benefits to pay for their children to study in Finland.
"I paid Sh2.5 million for my two children to go to Finland but two years down the line we are all at home rendered poor and suffering from depression," one of the parents Edward Kiptek said.
Some of the learners who missed out on the programme wept as they accused some county leaders of openly lying to them.
Both Mandago and Bii told the parents to give them a week so that they come up with a way forward on the refunds.
More than 300 parents are demanding to be refunded more than 300 million.
Also, present at the meeting were Uasin Gishu county commissioner Dr Eddison Nyale and Deputy Governor John Barorot.