BTW: I still vividly remember how this whole idea started in 1978. Moi was giving his first Jamhuri Day speech as president. In it he mentioned that the government was planning to introduce a "National Service Programme" for second-year university students. The idea being that they would be enlisted into the civil service for a year to do odd-jobs in their field of study and get paid some little pocket money.
That was in the official written speech. When he finished reading; he elaborated a few things in Kiswahili and there he explained the new idea using the example of a student studying an agricultural degree: "Tutatume yeye kusaidia wakulima kwa mwaka mmoja. Halafu tuta pea yeye pesa kidogo ya kununua chakula na nguo. Baada ya mwaka, atarudi shule na kumaliza masomo yake.
"Mtu kama huyo atapata experience ya kazi na atatusaidia kupunguza garama ya mishahara ya serikali..."
Or something to that effect. [Do I need to translate?]. At the time, I thought it was a brilliant idea, until the media reported the story the following day saying "University students to get para-military training"
I wondered whether we were listening to the same speech...
Anyway: the idea was left hanging and no one mentioned it for four years... then came the 1982 Coup attempt. And UoN [the only university at the time; KU was KUC and JKU was under construction as JKCAT] students joined the "Power" brigade led by the Air Force...
When things cooled down; JJ Kamotho announced that it is necessary to discipline students before they joined the university, and therefore, the NYS programme was quickly put together in 1983 [I think]. The first group was there for only one month...
And now I remember why the programme was stopped....
Due to the large number of university students expected in the A-Level + 8-4-4 double intake, Egerton University was allowed to use the Gigil Camp as its Laikipia Campus.
So, the NYS had to move out of the place. There was no other camp to accommodate the pre-university programme students [this time the number was double that of previous years].
Therefore, the idea died a natural death.
Nothing is real unless it can be named; nothing has value unless it can be sold; money is worthless unless you spend it.