" We want leaders with a difference"

 

The Spirit of Leadership by Myles Monroe stares at me when I enter Annette’s room in the afternoon; she loves to read a lot. “I love surrounding myself with books that talk about leadership because they enlighten me to spot qualities of a good leader.” With the January semester coming to an end, the student body at Daystar University will be conducting elections this April 2012 to usher in the new leaders. 
The elected student body leaders serve as representatives of the students at the University, it is a great leadership opportunity which comes with a lot of responsibility. Annette Muthoni, a 3rd year Psychology major strongly believes that student leadership at Daystar has been greatly compromised. “The people who have been elected in the past, have gotten into office because they were more popular than their opponents and not because they had anything tangible to offer to the student body in terms of leadership,” Annette explains.

The book I saw  in  Annette's room

I wanted to know if many students share Annette’s view and that set me to find out what qualities they want from the new crop of leaders who want to vie for the student body positions.  

The student body posts are the highest form of student leadership in the University, these people are the ones who represent the University in functions, they interact with the senate and the Vice Chancellor when the student’s needs need to be heard, and thus they  want people who are competent and have the people’s interests at heart. 

Lotan Salapei, a 4th year Peace and Conflict major, who is also a prolific personality at the Athi River Campus believes that its time that we elect leaders who are willing to serve. “I want a servant leader who has the people’s interests at heart and who is open to people’s ideas. I strongly advocate for leading by example, because to me leadership is the ability to get others to willingly follow.”

Every organization needs leaders at every level and Lotan  pointed out openness and humility as some of the qualities that he would want from the new leaders. Leaders with humility recognize that they are no better or worse than other members of the team, they try elevating everyone. Openness means being able to listen to new ideas, even if they do not conform to the usual way of thinking. Lotan added, “Openness is a very important trait that should be embraced by the Social Welfare and the Clubs docket which mainly deal with planning events.”

Lotan Salapei

Openness builds mutual respect and trust between leaders and followers, and it also keeps the team well supplied with new ideas that can further its vision. “We need things to be done differently. Some of the people who have held these dockets have been close minded and have been doing the same things over the years, and we need a change. We should think outside the box”, Lotan further explained. Good leaders are able to suspend judgment while listening to others’ ideas, as well as accept new ways of doing things that someone else thought of. 

In the 2012 January semester, there were some video clips circulating the student’s emails that showed some of the student body leaders drinking at a bar. “I felt this was very shameful. You know they are our leaders, and not just that, student leaders at a Christian University that doesn’t subscribe to drinking. "That was just wrong. hawana integrity.” Joan Anyango, a 2nd year Economics Major retorted.

In a chapel service in late 2011, Reverend Stephen Nduto,The Daystar University Chaplain preached about integrity and he explained that, integrity is the combination of outward actions and inner values. "A person of integrity is the same on the outside and on the inside. Such an individual can be trusted because he or she never veers from inner values, even when it might be dangerous." Reverend Nduto said.  From his sentiments we can draw that a leader must have the trust of followers and therefore must display integrity.

The newly adapted Kenyan Constitution clearly states that no one should be discriminated on the basis of skin color, race, disability, gender or tribe. The aspiring leaders should keep these things in mind and apply fairness and justice in their dealings. “I don’t want a leader who will do me a favor just because I come from the same region as them. Our generation should be past that mentality. Everyone should be treated equally, kwanza hapa Daystar we have International students, thus we should be universal thinkers,” Lotan Salapei remarked. Joan Anyango also added that communication skills will help them with fairness; it will help them listen, analyze and offer correct judgement on situations that come their way. “For me fairness will show itself through communication skills which will help them in negotiations, crisis management and in circumstances that require persuasion.”

The views shared above indicate that the student body has a blueprint for what kind of leaders they want and it seems this time round the Daystar University Students Association (DUSA) aspirants are going to have to work extra hard to impress the students with their manifestos and their promises of change. Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States said that, "Every generation needs a revolution," and maybe the time for Daystar University is now, in the 2012 DUSA elections.

I was still at Annette’s room when the sun was setting. We had talked from late afternoon about  what she thinks leaders, especially at Daystar should emulate. Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Junior, were some of the names that came up. Last words from Annette were, "the aspirants vying for the DUSA  seats should have a clear vision of how they want to run the different posts as this will guide them and keep them in check." Before I left Annette’s room, I grabbed myself a copy of Becoming a Better you by Joel Osteen from her vast library.

Cynthia Kimola 
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