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UoN lecturer accuses Chinese of locking out Kenyan students from lecture hall – VIDEO

By Hilary Kimuyu February 26th, 2020 1 min read

The University of Nairobi (UoN) has distanced its self from a video clip that shows one of its lecturers protesting for being barred from using a lecture hall at the Confucius Institute.

In the clip, Dr Richard Bosire can be seen asking some of the students why the UoN has allowed the Chinese to grab the institute.

“What we are protesting is the Chinese locking students out of the facility with their lecturer. We cannot allow it!” Bosire can be heard.

He then wonders if they want them to learn under trees. “Is it Chinese colonialism? They have gone too far,” charged Dr Bosire.

Dr Bosire, who is also the Universities Academic Staff Union UoN chapter chairman, was protesting after the Chinese allegedly locked students from accessing a lecture room at the University Towers.

Not a property of the People’s Republic of China

But according to the Director, Corporate Affairs of UoN John Korir, the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi is not a property of the People’s Republic of China.

“The attached video by Dr Bosire is misleading and ill-intentioned,” said Korir. “His sentiments are personal and do not reflect the correct position. This class had been assigned a different lecture hall.”

According to Dr Bosire, the Chinese claim they bought two floors in the tower. “The university has given them land, they constructed a huge facility, perhaps on two acres of land, yet they are closing us out,” Bosire alleged.”

Confucius Institute is passed off as an education organisation with a mission of helping the people in the world to learn the Chinese language and the culture of China.

Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi was launched as the first of its kind in Africa in 2005 by then Chinese president Hu Jintao.