 Mark, this is why in the morning the segment is MCM, we're just about to get into a powerful conversation but first things first, we had asked you a question on the social media from X, Instagram, Facebook and threads. I'm still stuck on threads, I don't know how you guys are using it but anyways you'll tell me on the comment section right now. We had asked you a question about leadership since it's in relation to today's topic Natuma Kuliza ulitama ni kuwa leader na ni ni kakuzuya by the way ebu tell us. So let me just sample part of your feedback really fast and then we're gonna get back to you our conversation right here in studio anagita hamstone mwingisi anasema kukua master plan ando liin kaziya. I don't know what that means bro but explain a little bit anitwa Ali Monda anasema watching live from Makumbwani kituwi aw sorry kituya nilini zuya ni kiburi kujiona mimi ni mkubua teari. Mmm that's a good one and and I'm glad you identified it and it was Mary Pinches anasema locked in the cure racing gongrod nice brandamora let me tell you it's not easy especially when your friends don't vote for you okay and then Catherine Shiko anasema sana from kagandam rangashara to you deniz wa murkujit wow what a name kapenguria to kondani sana shara to you in kapenguria and then anagita Jesus you guys have really heavy names sho iku jitu sana from Nairobi Kenya tijer di asu well okay and then the last oh melon mask there's something you did with the name melon mask okay I got you ozuru akulala no no nope nope nope and the last anasema anagita voke tizum rasta anasema I and rasta voke ingenium reti from kaira min litamani but in yuazakua klas three secretary for three years lastly ni kama school president in high school congratulations you know that's a big achievement you know it starts from small small places like palikua kwa klas prefect high school ni ni ni ni the rest any present shout out to everybody living sonakala amosun kuroma anasema kondani and lastly pablo mojan asema watching from Rwiri continue watching and sending your feedback the question once again is litamani kwa leader nanine kakuzuya badawe I have a whole story and mine I will do a power point presentation live on tiktok but anyways I'm playing but back to back to the conversation in studio we have two powerful gentlemen and they'll definitely tell us what they do at the various institutions we have victor soliti he's a president and chair pastor at St. Paul's University and also student association and next to him is SK kajong he'll tell me what SK means in full and then the president emeritus of mount kenya university he's also an author a public speaker and a leadership enthusiast karibuni sana good morning emeritus is a big word badawe I've seen it on maraga I've seen it on a president why is it used a lot especially on people that have been through leadership positions and then they've left yeah so basically um SK kajong the president emeritus SK in full kajong sanjuken kajong also you abbreviated it yeah because comrade comrade nomi as SK kajong so I decided to use it as such all right so it's like a brand yeah it's a brand right there you go okay so I'm SK kajong the president emeritus of mount kenya university I'm an author public speaker and a leadership enthusiast right so president emeritus simply means a former right a former but I decided to use it as such because um um I realized the fact that when you are in leadership you ought to be esteemed as an astute member of the society so that is that is the reason why I decided to use it as emeritus yeah yeah wow good what about you mr soliti yes um my name is victor soliti right um the current chap ason sent pulse university and I'm pursuing a batch of awards in communications specializing in public relations and mass communications yes I'm so excited to be here karibuni sana and interesting enough is most of you are from leadership sports so maybe perhaps you can start off by defining maybe a leader so who's a leader I'll start since you're the last person to speak so who's a leader how would you define it in your own understanding in your own experience in your own words I think a leader is someone who is uh first authentic um a leader is someone who is a people person I'll say someone who is outgoing someone who is ready to serve humanity with their hands no um authenticity humility and ready to serve readiness to serve wholeheartedly the aspects I think those are things that really define a leader yes all right fantastic what about you eski thank you Martin Luther king junior said that a good leader is a builder of consensus nor a seeker so I go by yeah so I go by those words because I've realized the fact that a good leader is a person who is able to realize the needs of the people and be able to authenticate and implement them according to their wishes so it's just about the people because I've realized the crowd you call that comes with leadership is that the people that matter so actually if you want to be engaging leadership position first you must realize the needs of the people and be able to implement their aspirations right otherwise you cannot be termed as a leader or you cannot be cognizant of the fact what leadership really constitutes right yeah and let me ask you another question before you become a leader of any any any position in the world you must first be a leader of your own self yes you're leading your life and then when your life is right now that's when you can lead other people so what are some of the things that you have had to shape in you before even before you get to the story of how you go to be the president of your institution how have you led your life to a point now you became a leader of others good oh I'll start by by by what I those some of the proponents that are constitute my book a magnus opus which clearly outlines becoming a president and becoming a president is simply how to lead a classical and fantastic life that are people can emulate and it starts with self discipline because if you're not self disciplined yourself then you cannot show other people the way on how to behave right so basically one of the tools that you can use to develop your leadership skills is first realize the the the key components of yourself what you constitute what you embody then now from that that's how you can be able to shape the future of other people right yes nice fantastic what about you uh mr soliti I think he's actually mentioned one of the main things that is self-discipline before you think of leading others you have first to shape yourself and just as you have asked how you first shape yourself and self-discipline is one of the main main really things that you have to have before you think of going for leadership positions or anything else and again these one these vaches that we have to get in leadership integrity is one of the things and of course now let me speak from a point of being a communication student as well your brand you know the image that you portray outside there because how you portray yourself or how you carry yourself is how people will you know how will how people will see it and how they'll get to to to to view you you know so I think your image matters a lot your character now that is an image your character how authentic you are how you speak to people and everything about you even your movements you know how strategic you are so right how you do your things right yeah so still on you um every human being has goes through phases in life these times you are at your lowest these times you are at your peak and everybody has a behavior at least something that you do individually in public private people know you for so maybe just dissecting to you what are some of the things you had to shelf off or shadow to become this find leader before we now get to leading an institution and maybe just a little bit story of you transitioning from primary school to high school and then uni and then now here you are on tv talking about leadership perhaps you can take us to that journey that thinks of how to shelf off to be this fine and now on tv um I think it's a process of building a champion's mindset and say that or rather from my primary school I don't think I was actually any at any point leading my primary school I don't remember being a class rep I think probably in class 3 class 4 about there right then in high school I was a lady in high school right um what position I was holding a position secha person and the same time I was a dumb captain right from form 3 to form 4 I think yeah so um one of the things that I had to shelf off right is the fear to take risk um many times we have that fear of taking risk fear of making decisions and at times leadership you even have to make pragmatic decisions yeah and and that that are some of the things that you know in leadership that fear to make decisions that fear to go for something that you believe you can do it yeah um I think that was one of the biggest things that I had to overcome and then and of course building the character building the image the image itself I have to had to build it and you know it's kind of a when you're building a building that things that you have to uh huna zitoa kando kando so um of course uh there are some behaviors that I used to have before I had to shelf off their friends that please mention them you know there's those conventional ones like everybody at least if you're a lady gentleman young there's some things you do and you'll you'll try to see that they're universal so you can just share them point them out if you're not if you're not afraid or scared to point out you know um I think uh one of the behaviors I would say is uh I used to be that you know very shy person or something let me say I was very shy shy is no I wouldn't make sure the other one because of but I would say I was very shy by the way yeah when I was growing up speaking really what it was a very big very huge challenge but something that I had to build it's I had to you know learn how to do that do public speaking so along the way I developed the confidence the confidence to stand before people and speak and uh yeah here we are today so the small small behaviors I think uh my senior here I can mention them because I think they are very common or much as a politically right but it's all right I got you got you what about you eski what are some of the things you had to shed off and become this thank you I remember when I was in primary school that is um um in a certain school back in Aroc and I was a a class prefect then I went to high school was not a leader but I participated most mostly in leadership matters and when when when things were being consolidated to try and reach solutions I was always available to to to do that and when I came to the university um most of the time my my coursework friends called give me an opportunity to to to to present before the class because they believed I could do it with a lot of prowess and intelligence and I remember even most of the time when I presented my coursework even the lecturers could give me very good marks because of um a good prowess fluency and such and that is where I started developing my leadership skills and and and people started saying I could hear them not and say this guy can lead us he can provide leadership and I said if people can believe in me why what is the reason that I do not have to believe in myself and the capacity that I carry to some others and show them the way and therefore I decided as a first year to go for a position in the council which was again as a tradition because nobody has done that before but I decided to break all the odds I ran for the position of the secretary general of the student association but because of the constraints that were placed in the constitutional framework that could allow us to to do that I retreated back build capacity then came back to vibe for the position of the president but in the all that process it requires you to be sometimes to go in isolation yeah you go in isolation so that you can build what is necessary to be brought on the table because you cannot present yourself as a candidate for the opposition if you've not built capacity for that and people cannot just entrust you with such an opportunity to serve them and be the head of the student body if you do not have the capacity and the muscles to do that and therefore in these all processes there are some of the things that you'll have to forego you forego like mimi I'm not a shereha person I'm not a shereha person those are one of the behaviors that I had to forego personally so that I can achieve to that end and most you know our campus the campus comrades most of the time moa so in Fridays and I believe that I can do this thing without really going to shereha and even when we are politicking you it's something that is always a tradition that you must offer people to come upon me so that they can shout to the top of their voices make noise cost is that bans and so that you can be seen as well in your bazu on a baby kitu but I never believed in that I still believe that you can be a person of good character and be elected to serve in such an astute position all right yes all right since you've taken us all the way to how you become a leader at university maybe you can you can just point at maybe what are some of the things that made you to be chosen for that position you are you see oh you are now emeritus yes for sure former yeah what are some of the things that you know made people to choose you and not the other contestants that you went against and how is that contestation about how is the experience before you left it to someone else I can say that there are two proponents that distinguishes a good politician or a good leader is his mind and his mouth mind and mouth so I I remember very well that when we were presenting ourselves for the candidacy of that position it was not easy as you know there are a lot of red types and bureaucratic measures in terms of engaging with the populars and coming all the way to the administration level so of course you understand it is not easy and what are the obstacles I'm imagining at campus yes a campus is like ABCD why should I receive a position it is just like a nation you see the the the structure of a country when we are going to elect these people uh huh it is just like a search so it's like Kenyan elections it is just like Kenyan election but this is campus it's student it's student environment yeah so how is the position like who is opposing who and who is sabotaging who and who is supporting who and but you see I can even say that the struggle in campus is even more superior than outside here because the difference is you are dealing with intellectuals these people understand if you are using Sukros and aggrandizing them for them to vote for you or you are being legit you are being factual but outside here you can go to Mamamboga down there those people would do not understand all these uh all these comprehensive measures so these comprehensive memorandas of what a leader should clearly constitute but in the campus level these people are intellectual they understand everything what a leader should embody which kind of a person we should elect so it is a very different matter so uh when we were running for this position I remember we were seven of us who successfully managed to go through the whole process and were cleared now for the ballot to be elected and out of the seven I now realize the fact that I have two monumental things that I can use to beat my my competitors what were they my mind and my mouth as I'd say explain the mouth my mind the mouth is basically now public speaking how you speak to the people right the constitution of the world concept what do you tell them how do you compose yourself what kind of a how is your degree of confidence you see what courage do you have to tell them that you will elect me not to tell you what you want to hear but to tell you the truth because that is where we miss you you end up telling people things that will not work out then when you are elected into office you fail to to implement them and that's how your legacy you will fail and people will never remember long after you've left campus are you talking about someone no I'm not talking about anyone but actually I'm trying to just elucidate a point that makes sense on what a leader in the university level should constitute or what a leader in the university should implement or what should be the protrusion of a figure of a stature of a president of a university nice I got you really given a comprehensive explanation I'll come back to you so what about you what are some of the obstacles you had to go through to come in that position that you are at your institution and how is the contestation experience like experience was tough I think I shout out to my competitor I only had one competitor after getting uh leader no joy vulnerable leader no joy shout out to vulnerable some of the obstacles I think is mentioned I had to beat a lot of points to beat that position yeah one was my age it's never happened that uh someone at my age could vary for that position age and university I don't think say everybody's young in campus but uh vary for a seat like fat president is it uh most cases people look at how old are you I mean those in the in the olden era or some I mean people think that the age comes with experience of many many cases but it's going how old are you that time when I was 20 years old okay so you got it in your fourth year or your third year all right so that was one of the odds and again another odd it's because um all right let me come let me come to you shortly as we get to fix your sound uh back to you escape there's always obstacles in anything that you know especially if you position yourself in a space of wanting to be a representation of people there's love and hate in equal measure and sometimes when you're interacting with with different people there's those who actually just projected to you and you know this person in your honeypendi and and one thing as well is you can't place everyone in as much as you want to be loved by people you want to be their leader you want them to honor you and respect you there's no sort of actually go off greed so how do you manage to get the greed and that gravitas of staying aptitude and upbeat about you know loving people and being about a people person good so you know when you in this position and you're serving for my instance i was having more than 50 000 students across the country at main campus i was having 20 000 plus so you can imagine the abhorrence that comes with the you see we had competitors and they had factions which never believed in the ideologies that are presented to the table and of course after you defeated you always feel like like people didn't believe in what i could offer so the one who was given now an opportunity to serve there is this tendency where even your competitors or some people who never supported you tend not to come now to the table and support what you do you are doing entirely entirely hated you during the competition you've won and they're not even giving a damn about it yeah and they will even go to an extent of now extending the opposition in social media and such but as a good leader why does this look like an election in a country yeah sure it is even intense i was telling you the pressure is even intense and sometimes you just feel uncomfortable but as a good leader is for politicians for politicians i believe that we can still continue politicizing about the all matter and what happened before but for a good leader you have to learn the strategy of collectively bringing these people together so that you can collectively form a unison body which now when you're talking as president you are talking on behalf of the 20 000 plus students you are not talking about a faction of those who supported you so that is what i mastered i mastered the art properly and i brought together all my competitors even during my my my keynote address yeah when i was being sown in i invited all of them together so that we can sit down we navigate the maki waters of um what happened in the political period so that we can shape the future of our students in terms of service delivery yeah so uh during my time i never really heard a lot of opposition and i appreciate those who contended with me during that time because i accepted the call of um uniformity in terms of coming together putting things on the table uh forgetting what happened and shaping the future that really is transformative for our students and i want to give credence to all mount kanyu university who gave me an opportunity to serve them i won't take it rightly and i still uh uh honor them in my heart right let me come back to you solitae uh what are some of the uh experiences you had like i've asked him you you can't receive love just one way it's a two-way traffic there's love and hate and eco measure but sometimes you just feel like these people should just support me i'm the lead i'm the final one there's nothing you can do anyways but why are you hating bro why are you hating why can't you just support yeah i would say that uh these i'll start by saying that there is a very huge difference between politics and leadership when you're in the political arena right in the field of politics these how people perceive you these how people see you um when you politics everyone comes to your to your to your side because they have seen something and that those that come because they have their own interest uh and that those that come because they have different opinion or something you know the people have different things as to why they will come to support you or rather they would want they wouldn't want to support you when you get into leadership uh now speaking from this uh where we sit with my brother who is a militals oh you assumed his position not really he's he's from Mount Kenyan from St. Paul's oh you explained it was like hey what's not happening you guys but now i get it so i'll continue yes so uh it's a very hot seat the experience the pressure that you get uh is he said the pressure that you get from the students the thoughts that supported you and they wanted something they wanted to see something implemented um but now the framework that the frame the the time frame that you have to implement everything that you had promised them when you're in politics yeah uh might not actually be enough for you to implement everything okay um but uh to navigate all those things um we always go with uh one thing leadership we do all we can you give you put all your mind your soul into the line of duty to deliver to the people that you had promised that you have to deliver to them right uh people might never appreciate everything uh one man one say that uh even if you bring heaven to earth human beings will still be human beings yeah so even if we do all that we can because we'll do that as servants we will give all that we have to give if it has to happen it is up upon us i remember something is it is it um my angel who said people will remember how you made them feel but forget yeah how you do to them yes i don't know if i've gotten it right you'll tell me so as a leader you always have to evoke i said oh people forget how you will forget what you said what you said but they never forget how you made them feel you're nice i got it right you got it right so you must always make people feel a tap away yes whether it's good or bad yes all right um how many students gravitate towards you are they female male or both of them in your campus who come to your lord to their ladies or gents i think both both uh i don't think there is any uh the gender the gender is balanced um mostly men i would say mostly men come because men have i mean my cycle of friends i think i have a huge number of men in my cycle okay so uh we'll sit in you'll find me sitting with them in most cases uh thinking together uh coming up with different initiatives and ideas so um i i don't know but uh it just happens but i also have because uh they are the gender they're female gender they have you know their their perspective is it what about you who gravitate towards your lord today boy child or both either like him i can say the equation is balanced uh because you say it depends on need because you see someone cannot just come without something someone just come without something some of them will come with requesting for 50 shillings for right i've heard that a lot you call it kwenama yes right hey man campus life is is is torturous torturous really trickarous so you really have a zalida you have to try and balance right so do you and where do you get the money kupiamse manya jagkula break or jagkula lunch ahana sapo una patapidu does it mean you get a lot of financial support from your guardians amma you have some other ways of earning money like walking and still schooling how do you do that that's where now the problem comes in because you see when students elect you they now believe that you have heaps of money like you have a lot of money at your disposal but that's not true but as a leader you should always not be a complainant you should always try your level best to provide solution kumbrits will come and request for you to provide something for them and it's truly urgent because sometimes you will see a kumbrit enyue wuyu maona a jagkula for the last two three days so you also have to find something for him and also trying to provide solutions by doing administrative measures so that you know we are not only looking at the present we only we all we all we also have to look at the future right because when i'm done with my tenure as president what will happen to this kumbrits in the future right so that is the most important thing that is a leader or a university representative should do yeah yes and uh my final question to you because we are running out of time and we have to go then i'll come back to you so we take anyone who is watching this conversation and they want to be a class prefect could be a standard one student standard standard standard one student um a high schooler who is just in high school they want to be a university leader and also a university student watching and they want to be in a position like you are what are some of the things that they should do to get there very first by the words of Martin Luther he says that not everyone can be famous but everyone can be great because greatness is determined by service so this thing starts with self belief you believe that you can lead people then just come out project your voice let people see then definitely you will get there no yes yes elite leadership i think it's a calling we all leaders we born leaders but uh how you made to be the leader that you want to be the position that you want to be in determines depends on how you also believe in yourself uh do you believe that there is a calling that you've been called to serve in that position um are you really sure that you have understood what the needs of the people rather the constituents that you want to serve and so if you believe in that if you are authentic if you are you have integrity you believe we all have a supreme being if you believe in god and personally believe in god then go for it um so consult consult god as well okay uh who do you admire mostly leadership very fast in in one second in leadership just one person say there now Martin Luther king he's mentioned so many times you admire him a lot without a blink i'll say barak obama barak obama yes so we don't have to explain because we can't extend this conversation because oh you're out of time but thank you so much eske kajung your social media is at just one eske kajung at eske kajung