MUISSA IN A CRISIS

Thursday 4th November, 2010
Edwin Midimo gives us an insight into the trials and tribulations of the students association

MUISSA is undeniably the second largest student association in campus after TSA. Despite this prestigious position, the current MUISSA office is unlikely to make it through the end of this academic year..
The current executive committee will go down as the most negligent and disjointed leadership that MUISSA has ever had. Not a single official is living up to his/her obligations. The absence of the popularly elected chair lady created a vacuum that every member of the remaining executive committee has been fighting to fill. Each of them considers themselves not just heads but also owners of the association.
The semester started on a high note with the successful registration and enrollment of students for computer classes. But that’s when the rain started beating us. This programme was characterized by poor budgeting and unprocedural hiring of tutors.
If the draft passes as it is, it would see the formation of a financial committee that would oversee the functioning of the finance director’s office
Secondly, a constitutional review committee was set up. It was mandated with collecting views and drafting a new constitution. The original budget for the committee was however trashed and replaced by another one from the executive committee. All the same, work got underway.
The constitutional committee is done with the work it was entrusted with but the office is not willing to pick the draft and promulgate it into law. The difficulty being, raising the remaining part of the commissioners’ allowances. None of the MUISSA leaders is showing any concern for this.
Financial accountability has proved to be a tall order for MUISSA. Neither the vice chair, secretary general nor the finance director is willing to take responsibility. One is therefore tempted to wonder; what happened to all that charisma they got while campaigning for these positions?
Do you know MUISSA’s bank account number? How much money does it currently have? If the draft passes as it is, it would see the formation of a financial committee that would oversee the functioning of the finance director’s office and keep MUISSA members a breast with how their finances are used.
A MUISSA account was created late last month with the national bank. Before then, finances were in the custody of these officials’ pockets. The officers being human, the monies cannot now easily be availed to keep the association going.
The annual Information Week will be held next semester. It will be interesting to see how finances for the event will be raised.
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(The writer is a member of the MUISSA Constitutional Review Committee.
The ideas expressed in this article are those of the individual writer and do not reflect the views of Newsround.)
MUISSA IN A CRISIS