June 22, 2018

REMARKS OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR, THE CO-OPERATIVE UNIVERSITY OF KENYA PROF. KAMAU NGAMAU ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING OF THE WORKSHOP ON THE SENSITIZATION ON NATIONAL COHESION AND NATIONAL VALUES AT CUK, MAIN CAMPUS, 12th JUNE, 2018 10.00 AM The Staff from the Directorate of National Cohesion and Values The National Cohesion and Integration Committee Members Ladies and Gentlemen This morning marks an important moment to the National Cohesion and Values Committee Members here at CUK. Your being sensitized on the National Values by the team from the Office of the President should not be just a Performance Contract fulfilment but a gear towards making you achieve your objective of a cohesive society achievable.Allow me to thank the Directorate of National Cohesion and Values for their time and dedication years. I also wish to thank the team from CUK for planning this important training; we thank you all. Colleagues, For the better part of the day, I am informed that your energies will be channeled to the Article 10 of the Constitution of Kenya among other cross-cutting issues. However, this will not be the first time this will be coming to your knowledge. I urge you to participate in this workshop actively and ensure you grasp ideas that can make CUK family greater and better than it was yesterday. As you are aware, CUK has its values which for a long time have promoted our oneness as a University; Honesty, Integrity, Professionalism, Quality & Excellence and Teamwork Drive to Our Mission and Vision. These values are in sync with our national values as Kenyans. Colleagues, I wish to refer you all to Article 10 of the Constitution of the Constitution of Kenya; all of us are called to embrace one another in our general lives and in administrative society; “The national values and principles of governance include — patriotism, national unity, sharing and devolution of power, the rule of law, democracy and participation of the people; human dignity, equity, social justice, inclusiveness, equality, human rights, non- discrimination and protection of the marginalized; good governance, integrity, transparency and accountability; and sustainable ”  Ladies and gentlemen, I cannot guarantee you that implementation of Article 10 of our Constitution in Kenya or around Africa is easy, however, it is worth; these values provide a focal point for us all to have a sane society. It is our moral obligation as Kenyans to ensure we keep to these values not because they are provided for in the Constitution but because we are rational beings. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am certain the day will be fruitful and bring about a better CUK tomorrow. I wish to commend all of you for taking the bold step to lead CUK towards the right direction. I challenge you as committee members not to leave anyone behind; after this training we expect you to cascade this down to that is where the society begins. With those few remarks, allow me to declare this workshop officially open. I wish all you a fruitful day and God’s Blessings. Thank You

REMARKS OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR, THE CO-OPERATIVE UNIVERSITY OF KENYA PROF. KAMAU NGAMAU ON THE OCCASION OF THE ORIENTATION OF FRESH STUDENTS ON 20TH JUNE, 2018, MAIN CAMPUS- KAREN AT 11.00AM Deputy Vice Chancellors Registrars Deans and Directors Professors Members of staff present, Fresh students, Ladies and gentlemen, Today, I am delighted to join my colleagues in welcoming a new cohort of students joining The Co- operative University of Kenya for academic pursuit. Allow me to commend you for the choice you made to be here. You chose this University perhaps before you knew what a University is and what we, as CUK offer apart from the academic programmes. We assure you that the energy you have, the faith and hope you have in us to building your future careers will be realized. The Co-operative University of Kenya is one of the newest Public Universities in Kenya but one of the oldest institutions of learning across the region dating 1952. We are also a small University in terms of numbers but we are a nuclear-power-house, training for the vast Co-operative sector in Kenya which commands over 45% of the Nation’s GDP. Fresh Men and Women, Allow me to congratulate you for your good academic performance that enabled you to be chosen to join CUK. The about 2,000 of you, who have come here to pursue Diploma Programmes were selected carefully through KUCCPS, out of the many who wanted to be where you are today. This University had the highest applicants for your cohort in the Nation. Your performance made you outshine the others; we remain hopeful that the energy and the vigor you have, the dreams you have, will come to a fruition. We have a team of dedicated and qualified members of staff at The Co-operative University of Kenya who will guide you during your stay here. I wish to assure you that our operations as a University are student-centered; no efforts are spared to enable a student achieve their dreams, exploit their full potential in classwork, co-curricular activities and understand what a University entails. Form the onset allow me to inform that a University is like a melting pot; you are here from different academic backgrounds, villages, counties, schools, religions, ages, thoughts, tribes, ideological backgrounds among others; You have come here with one aim, one goal; academic pursuit. That notwithstanding, CUK, as a university has no first class or second class students. You are all equal and you will be treated equally. At the same time, we encourage you to learn best practices, cultures, establish friendships and bonds that you will cherish for a lifetime. Ladies and Gentlemen,  The World we live has ideas which are both positive and negative; rational human beings embrace ideas of truth, excellence, change, morality and conviction. These among other noble ideas are the determinants upon which a University is founded. As motifs in a University, we are all bound to be the conveyor belts of these ides to the society we live in. Dear Students,  The Co-operative University of Kenya is a reputable brand across Kenya and the region. You will find academic life here demanding; our training and efforts to produce competent graduates remain our key priority agenda. Your success here is over 50% dependent on your personal efforts; you will therefore not afford lazing around. You will be expected to take your assignments, classwork and examinations seriously and in good time; academic indiscipline is severely punished and merit awarded with the same measure. This is our reputation, this is our brand, and it is our image; we guard it jealously. At the same time, The Co-operative University of Kenya supports co-curricular activities and students’ ventures; we have had success stories in sports including one of our students participate in sporting activities around the world including Alvin Wanzila swiftness in Taipei, China for FISU games flying the CUK flag, and Miss Rachel Kerubo’s Hockey maestro traveling virtually across Africa with her hockey stick making CUK proud. You can also make your story from here and dot the world map with CUK crayon. Ladies and Gentlemen, For the period you will be here at the University, we encourage you to acquaint yourselves with the University’s Mission, Vision and Core Values. We are anchored on an Objective of developing a Globally Competitive Co-operative University that is excellent in Education, Training, Research, Innovation and Outreach. Here at CUK, we generate and disseminate knowledge. We encourage innovations and inventions from our students. We have a Division in charge of Co-operative Development, Research and Innovations. Here, we incubate ideas from you as students to their maturity. I highly encourage you to take your time and make use of this division headed by Prof. Isaac Nyamongo; Make this division your close associate. Dear Students, No academic institution World over can function on merit without a library; CUK, in this realization has made library central in academic excellence. Our library, as you have been told earlier on, is endowed with thousands of books, journals, other academic papers both online and offline. We spend colossal sums of money each year to purchase books for you. Make the choice to use them for your benefit. Ladies and gentlemen, In our efforts to produce an all-round human person during your stay at CUK and after, we as CUK, take care of your welfare. The link between yourselves and us is the office of the Dean of students. This office houses the students’ leaders’ office, the Sports Docket, Chaplaincy, Guidance & Counseling and the HIV/AIDS Control Unit. I would be specific to the Guidance & Counselling and the HIV/AIDS control unit. Young men and women, be informed and guided accordingly that HIV/AIDS is real, causing lots of pain to the Nation and families both financially and socially. As you join this University as your academic frontier, do not be excited about sexual relationships irresponsibly. I cannot guarantee you that you will not fall into and out of relationships; in fact some may