President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga have received honorary degrees-Degrees of Doctor of Sciences, Honoris Causa-of the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology. The leaders were honoured during the 6th graduation ceremony for the university for their exemplary service to Kenya with the handshake being the pick of the bunch. President Kenyatta appreciated the honour and said his administration will continue committing more resources towards supporting universities. He emphasized the need for prudent utilization of public resources, “We must ensure resources that are within our control are strictly used for the intended purposes,” he said, after agreeing to do everything he could to support a facility in the school which requires an additional Kshs 100 million grant.
The President noted that universities are the highest institutions of teaching, learning and research and that the institutions still continue to drive not only the nation’s technological and industrial development agenda but also the advancement of knowledge in all other fields of national endeavour. He said to achieve sustainable success in the Big Four Agenda, the support of academic and research institutions is vital, “Largely through research, innovation and technological interventions, this will enable us to make knowledge-based decisions,” he said.
The Head of State pledged to continue working strongly with former premier Raila Odinga and all Kenyans to build a safer and more prosperous Kenya, and Raila affirmed that the handshake changed the direction and the mood of the nation. “The handshake and support that followed was a demonstration of a determination as a nation to learn from past mistakes and missteps and prepare to be great,” he outlined. He said that the world is currently evolving rapidly and technology is changing, with people embracing new technological advances as a way of life, and therefore we shouldn’t lose focus of innovation and research geared towards making education globally competitive.