Uhuru’s sh3.7M funded Student’s dream disappears

They do say that every dream is valid, and indeed Gilbert Korir had started seeing what he had always dreamt of coming true. Working as tout, and even selling deworming tablets was what he could all do to sponsor his dream after scoring a grade B in his KCSE exams.

Gilbert then received a full scholarship from President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2017 to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot.

But Gilbert is now stranded after the institution suddenly closed down.

Months later after his admission, the dream disappeared, so did the school fees paid by the president and the aviation school he was attending.

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“I cry whenever I imagine how the president’s Sh3.7 million paid for my school fees disappeared,” says Gilbert.

The problem was, he could not afford school fees.Gilbert, who completed his secondary education at Longisa Boys High School, Bomet, in 2013, traveled to Nairobi and started doing casual jobs to try and raise some money to fulfill his dream of becoming a pilot that began when he was five.

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“I worked as a tout, a cook and even sold deworming tablets to make some money. I had to work had to make my dream come true,” he says.

Such was his passion for flying that every Sunday, he would walk to Wilson Airport to watch planes taking off and landing.

Months later, he walked into flying school at Wilson and got an admission letter which he took to his mother back in the village.

The fees was astronomical.“When I showed my mother the letter, she asked me if the Sh4.5 million written on it was the number of the aircraft I was going to fly,” he says.

The family organised a fundraiser but only managed to raise Sh88,000.Skylink Aviation School allowed him to train with them after paying Sh70,000 in 2014.

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He returned home to look for more money and raised another Sh200,000 that helped him fly for 10 hours before another Sh66,000 was raised by villagers and friends at Bomet Stadium.

When Deputy President William Ruto visited Bomet for 2017 election campaigns, he was informed of the young man’s predicament and paid an additional Sh144,000.

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But Gilbert’s big break though, came in 2017 when the president went to Bomet for a rally and his case was again raised by the Woman Representative.

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“I was called to the dais and the President told me to give my details to his private secretary, Jomo Gechaga, he paid Sh3.7 million to cater for my my entire college fees. Hamud Suleiman (Skylink CEO) confirmed that the fees had been cleared,” says Gilbert.

He then focused on the task ahead — becoming a pilot, confident that the fees burden had been shouldered by the president.In mid 2018, Gilbert’s aviation class was taken to Malindi for the practicals.

Two months later, they were informed that the institution had been shut down.In Malindi, the students’ belongings were confiscated by the hotel they had been booked into by the school for non-payment of bills.

Gilbert along with 12 other students were allowed to join another aviation school, Alpha, which insisted that the Sh3.7 million that the president gave was paid to Skylink and that he still was in arrears.

Earlier this month, Gilbert was kicked out of the institution. Skylink’s CEO said no student had applied for a refund of the fees.

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