SPEECH OF VICE CHANCELLOR KABARAK UNIVERSITY, PROF. JONES KALELI DURING THE 9TH KABARAK UNIVERSITY GRADUATION AND INAUGURATION CEREMONY ON 15TH NOVEMBER, 2013
Abstract
The Second President of the Republic of Kenya and the Chancellor of Kabarak University, His Excellency Hon. Daniel T. Arap Moi, His Excellency Hon. Dumitien Ndayizeye, Former President of the Republic of Burundi and the First Lady Madam Aude Ndayizeye His Excellency, The High Commissioner of Botswana Hon. John Moreti and the First Secretary Veronica Mpesi. Our Guest Speaker Rev. Bishop David Oginde the Presiding Bishop of Christ is the Answer Ministries (CITAM) Nairobi Kenya. 2 Board of Trustees, The Chairman Governing Council, Prof. John Lonyangapuo Members of Governing Council, Vice-Chancellors and Representatives from various universities Members of Kabarak University Management Parents, Guardians and sponsors, Graduands, Students, Distinguished Invited Guests Ladies and Gentlemen Good morning 3 I greet you all in the Name of Jesus Christ our LORD and Saviour. First and foremost I want to thank God for the gift of life that He has given to each one of us today. As the Bible says in Psalms 118:24,”This is the day the Lord has made for us to rejoice and be glad in it” Your Excellency Sir, this is not a time for any one of us to make a long speech. And indeed if there is one who is most qualified to make a long speech it would be you sir. Why? Like many other educational Institutions in this land, Kabarak University is your brain Child. Therefore with your permission your Excellency sir, allow me to make some few remarks. First, I express my thank you, to your Excellency sir, for appointing me to serve as Kabarak University Vice Chancellor. I 4 am grateful and humbled by your choice and feel greatly honored as I reflect on the weight of responsibility that has been bestowed upon me. By God’s help your Excellency I promise to serve you as the Vice Chancellor with diligence, commitment, and faithfulness. Just as my earlier years of service with you in this place I am reminded of God’s Word to Zerubababel in Zechariah 4:6 that, “it is not by mighty nor by power but by God’s spirit” that His assignment for me here will be accomplished. It is for this reason I dedicate myself anew to the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. To the members of Kabarak University family I quote in your hearing Apostle Paul words which I make reference in 1988 in my first message to Kabarak students. Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinth: 2: 1-5 and I quote, “ When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom 5 as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[a] 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power”. Mzee, these virtues of humility and mindful of others welfare which are expressed in these verses have characterized your public life down through the years. In your own university, Your Excellency sir, it is in these same values and spirit upon which I will build on and emulate as I take up the mantle of leadership for Kabarak University. 6 To you members of Kabarak University and indeed the whole Kabarak Family, my wife and I come to you as servants. As I have already told you at the Chapel, I will in line with Christ’s words when He said “In everything do to others what you would have them do to you” (Mathew 7:12). I will seek by God’s power to treat all of you as I would like me to be treated. Our youngest daughter Faith who is close in age with most of you students arrived yesterday from USA. She has come to represent all the other children and grand children on this occasion. Therefore to you young men and women who are our students, my wife and I commit ourselves to treat you like our own sons and daughters. Remember our Chancellor’s vision when he started this university. In the year 2000 the Chancellor’s goal was and is to provide academic education which is governed by Biblical Christian values. This is engraved in 7 our university emblem as providing “Education in Biblical Perspective”. These words in our emblem were given to us by our Chancellor. From this perspective Kabarak University seeks to educate both the mind and the heart. This truth was also captured by the words of the Greek philosopher (Aristotle) who said “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” It was from this conviction that Kabarak University was founded to educate and develop the whole person. As a university we have a role and responsibility for the development of the whole person. Comprehensive student development is a responsibility we shall pursue with passion and commitment. Hence as has been said in other circles, educating the mind without educating the heart will lead to producing academic barbarians and this is not what we want. Character formation 8 governed by proper moral values is critical in life and should never be ignored in any educational institution. Our Chancellor has reminded us over and over again that “if you lose your wealth you lose nothing, if you lose your health you lose something, but when you lose your character you lose everything”. Thus without training in character, students are like one side baked chapattis! which the Bible describes as halfbaked persons. It is our aim to prepare you appropriately so that you can serve competently in any part of the globe. We want you to be Kenya’s finest sons and daughters who can serve and represent our nation in dignity in any part of the world. Our Chancellor sir, allow me to report that Kabarak University has continued to excel in many aspects. For example on October 15th 2013 Your Excellency sir, you launched the Kabarak 9 University Monthly Law Bulletin and the Students Law Review. This is an initiative of the Kabarak University Law Students Association (KULSA). These two publications have put Kabarak University School of law in a class of their own. Also this year Your Excellency, the University was declared national Champion in Enactus University Business competition. As the national champion Kabarak University students went to represent the nation in the World Cup in Cancun Mexico. After a tough competition Kabarak University emerged among the top 16 Universities in the world. This is a testimony that our students are properly trained and equipped to compete internationally. Again this year the University held a successful 3rd Kabarak University International Research Conference which had researchers from 6 countries. During the conference we had the first undergraduate students presenting practical research 10 innovations. This is an initiative aimed at creating research culture in the entire University. In all these successes Your Excellency, we give the glory to God and thank our faculty, staff and students for their diligence and exemplary behavior. To the parents, guardians and sponsors of our graduands, thank you for draining your resources for these dear ones. You will not regret for the sacrifice. Thank you for trusting us with your sons and daughters. Your sons and daughters were and are safe in our hands. Today we hand them over to you. They have gone through the process of mentoring, molding and training. I believe they are now better equipped to respond competently to life’s challenges. To our 2013 graduands I say, Congratulations! Thank you for working hard. May you be richly blessed of the Lord, the God of 11 Israel in whose wings you have taken refuge. May you go to the world and be the finest. Yes, strive to become all you were made to be. May the world be a better place because of you. You are the best class and we are proud of you. We trust that with honesty and integrity you will demonstrate before the world what integration of faith and learning means. You will be the living testimonies of what education in Biblical perspective can produce. You are the finest product of an educational model that integrates faith and learning from a Biblical Christian worldview. Today we send you out as ambassadors of Kabarak University. Remember the values and virtues we have passed to you. Please guard them and do not accept to be compromised. Follow our example as we have followed the example of Christ. We have given you the key, not only for your future professional success but also for your eternal soul. Remember the many people who 12 have sacrificed for your education and respond in goodness and appreciation. Remember His Excellency the Chancellor, this great Statesman of our time, the champion of education in our country and the founder of this great institution. Mzee had a dream and today you are the beneficiaries and products of that dream. You have lived here and been privileged to see what a patriotic single individual filled with love of God and love for a country and its people can do for a nation. As God leads and blesses you go and do likewise. Of course by graduating today, it does not mean the end of your academic journey. All what graduation does is to open a new chapter of knowledge search at a higher level. I advice you to pursue further studies and register with professional bodies to make yourself more competitive and resourceful. As you live the gates of Kabarak University I wish you God’s Presence to be with 13 you all the days of your life. And when the time for marriage comes may the LORD give you the right spouse at the right time. I also wish you a Merry Christmas and a blessed 2014 filled with God’s favor. With those remarks, Your Excellency sir, I would like now to invite the chairman of Kabarak University Council Professor Hon. John Lonyangapuo to address the congregation. Thank you and blessings to you all.